


When We Met (WWM)

by PencilTrash



Series: My Soulmates AUs [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: All are werewolves, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Stiles, Beta Derek Hale, Derek and Stiles are Mates, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Happy Ending, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Oblivious Derek, Oblivious Stiles, Omega Stiles Stilinski, Road Trips, Slow Build, Werewolf Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-01 21:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 52,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4034680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PencilTrash/pseuds/PencilTrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek Hale is a <em>damaged </em> Beta, who has been having a miserable life, so far...what's new!<br/>But he is about to meet an Omega - chatty, irritating, almost eighteen – Stiles Stilinski.<br/>And they both are going to start a journey, together, which is going to change, influence and evolve their lives…inside out.<br/>(aka, ABO dynamics soulmate AU, where none of them are aware)<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Damaged

**Author's Note:**

> **Please note, this is ABO dynamics AU and all are werewolves.  
> **  
>  Based on the movie - Jab We Met.  
> Fun begins from chapter two, when Derek meets Stiles. First half of this story is a road trip and the other half is...Life(?)  
> This is one of my first fics and I literally learned writing as the fic progressed. All mistakes are mine.

=========================================================

 

Damaged...

That's what they've called him.

Derek’s fingers fumbled with his tie in an attempt to loosen it, but the knot kept getting more and more tangled because he kept pulling the wrong end.

‘We won’t vote for a Damaged Beta as a Chairperson,’ Harris’ voice continued to ring in Derek’s ears like an irritating bell. He had  just returned home from the meeting with the management committee of Hale Enterprise. The agenda was to select the nominations for next Chairperson of the company, after his father's death a week back. 

Last week was the darkest week of Derek’s life, including the Hale Fire and even ‘Paige’s death’…or maybe ‘Paige’s Death’ would be a tough competition, though, considering that incident had changed his fucking life.

That had made him…Damaged.

Everything was jumbled in Derek’s mind all at once. He tried to separate each thread.

******

Paige’s Death

Derek was fifteen and dating Paige. Why not? Neither of them would know their soul mates, at least for three years, when they turn eighteen.

That was some kind of werewolves’ genes system, that they would start getting hints about their soul mate only once they were of age.

So there was no harm in just getting to know each other, right?

 

Paige was an Omega werewolf.

A beautiful, unmated omega and Derek felt lucky to have her by his side. She was a strong, level headed person, unlike other omega werewolf girls and boys, who wanted to mark him (maybe do something more) just to get attached to his famous family name – the Hale pack.

They were happy together. They were one of the most popular, most beautiful, most compatible couples at their school.

Derek wished sometimes that his life could have just frozen there and never start ticking again.

Derek was dropping her off at home one night after their study date. They took the long route through the preserve to spend some extra time together. It wasn’t after-curfew hours, but still late, when a rogue alpha suddenly jumped in front of them from out of nowhere. The alpha sniffed the air and hungrily focused on Paige. The sweet smell of a raw, unmated Omega must be alluring for him.

Claiming an underage, unmated, unwilling Omega was the most punishable offense as per werewolves’ law, but who the hell was going to teach the law to the violent Alpha on the night of a full moon?

Like a reflex action, Derek moved between Paige and the Alpha, but he was just a Beta and just a kid, after all. He was thrown out of sight before he could even blink.

When he rushed to help again, the damage was already done. The alpha had left a claiming bite on her shoulder and left the site.

That fucking rascal had just left, leaving Paige on the ground, shuddering in pain.

Derek quickly lifted her, laying her head down on his lap carefully. She wasn’t healing.  _God_ , why wasn’t she healing?

She was rejecting the claim-bite.

Your wolf rejecting the bite was bad. Death bad. Your wolf would react to the bite like mountain ash, choking inside your veins, forcing you to deny the claim.

“Why are you rejecting it,  _Jesus_ ,” Derek exclaimed, shaking violently. He grabbed her hand and tried to take her pain. His forearm filled with the black veins running up through his hand. He tried that until his head went light with dizziness. He couldn’t afford to pass out now.

“I can’t…my wolf can’t accept…D-Derek,” Derek stared at her, horrified.

“No..NO…I’ll call Dad, just hold on a while, he is an Alpha. He’ll do something,” Derek’s fingers were trembling when he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

There wasn't a signal in the preserve area.

Derek felt his heart sinking. He couldn’t just leave Paige unattended in her delicate condition and look for a  _damn_  signal. He grabbed her close, supporting her pale cold body to his chest.

Paige vomited black blood.

“Derek, please…I can’t…no more,” Paige’s muffled voice whispered into Derek’s ear and tears started rolling down his cheeks.

“Please Paige,” he pleaded, not knowing what he really wished for.

“Let me go Der, help me.”

“No, please,” Derek whispered.

She cried, begged him for mercy.

And Derek couldn’t deny her that, not anymore.

******

 

Killing an innocent soul would take away a part of your soul…changing the colour of your eyes. Derek knew that. When Paige went still in his arms, Derek felt the change. His eyes glowed blue, no longer a golden yellow.

He was now Damaged.

That was the terminology they all used for such cruel, heartless werewolves who could dare to kill an innocent soul. Derek would never have imagined in his wildest dreams that he would be one of them.

His life turned upside down after that incident. There were investigations held and cops tracked down and killed the rogue Alpha. That bastard deserved it. But the incident had many negative effects on his overall already gloomy image, I mean; you couldn't just stop when the news spread in all possible weirdly wrong directions like a wildfire. Many of them thought that Derek was the one who has killed Paige. In a way, that was true. But he was just trying to help her. It was a mercy killing, and not a cold blooded murder. But Derek was not ready to get involved in any speculations. That horrible incident was already enough for him to get nasty nightmares every other night.

He lost all his friends. Everyone looked at him in disgust and fright.  But, who would need friends when you have your twin sister in all your classes to keep you a company. Laura was the sole reason he survived school and college life. She would kick anyone who tried pulling slumbering threads of Derek’s sad past.

One day, things went even beyond Laura’s control when a gang of Alpha-beta bullies tried to torture Derek in his junior year of high school and Derek lashed out, shifting in the middle of a school hallway, (wolfing out was strictly prohibited inside school premises) claws out, teeth baring, and blue crystal eyes filled with rage.

The gang was taken aback by the sudden display of outburst from the usually calm Damaged Beta, but they were in majority and therefore fearless against a single vulnerable Beta.

Things looked like they were going to get messy, but the situation was tactfully handled by a new replacement teacher – Kate Argent.

Kate stood by Derek throughout the episode, even saved him from suspension. Derek was...impressed. She was an adult omega and of course, a teacher. But, Derek was seventeen and miserably lonely and before he could make any sense of what is right and what is wrong, Derek got attached to her and the lady fully encouraged him.

They never crossed any boundaries though, because Derek was still underage and they were constantly on Laura's radar, 24x7.

Derek thought that things were getting better for him.

Then one day, Derek and Laura were suddenly escorted from the middle of school to the home where half of their family was burnt alive with only two survivors – David and Talia (their parents), who were at the Hale Enterprise when the incident took place.

It was Kate.

Derek felt like a volcano erupted through his veins. Fury, betrayal, pain, guilt...everything all messed up, all so dreadful.

The Argent Werewolf Pack had history with Hales...a bad one. And Kate tried to take advantage of the vulnerable puppy, to meet her motives, to eliminate Hales.

“It’s not your fault, Derek.”

The remaining members of  his family reiterated that, again and again, in failed attempts to comfort him, to take away from the mountain of guilt that Derek had buried himself in.

But nothing helped. It just added into his daily dose of nightmares.

That was the day when Derek decided that he would never get involved with any werewolf, until he met his soulmate.

 

Derek wished that things would be this easy for him.

 

Derek had a damaged soul and that would definitely not just limit to change in colour of his eyes.

He had learnt that when he turned eighteen.

It had been three months since he was of age, and things were still  _routine_  for him. No twist of heartbeats, no weird dreams, no smell which would stand out in the crowd of million of other werewolves. Well, these were the basic signs which every single werewolf would experience the moment they turned eighteen, irrespective of whether they would meet their soulmate or not.

 

And Derek felt  _nothing_.

His case had been discussed with other elders and they revealed that it was a part of the process when you get a damaged soul. Damaging would take away some part of your identity, it was not just the colour of your eyes.

Damaged souls would also lose a chance to know their soulmates.

Derek’s case was among the few rare ones. Many of the damaged werewolves would already know these Soulmate-signs before they killed someone. Killing an innocent soul before you turn eighteen was uncommon.

Derek was really  _okay_  with it. Soulmates were a tricky concept. And  _hey_ , not all un-damaged werewolves would know about soulmates at eighteen. Many had spent their life time to get to meet their other perfect half. Majority of them wouldn’t even meet them. Like ever. They would just spend quite a happy life with other unmated werewolf. That was easy. Derek knew that too.

 

His parents were  _not_  soulmates and he had watched them spending a happy, love-filled life for twenty two years now, since his birth. It was like they were made for each other. Definitely no less than  _so-called_  soulmates.

 

But, there went Derek’s plan of waiting for his perfect half.

 

Because he wouldn’t be able to sense nor smell his soulmate. He wouldn’t know who his soulmate was, ever.

After the incident with Kate, Derek never dared to indulge himself in any kind of relationships. He poured his heart into the family business, helping his father grow the Hale enterprise. He was getting it there, slowly and steadily, like he had finally found a purpose in his life. His father would always involve him in bigger deals, letting him handle a couple of projects independently. After all, Derek was the future. He was the future Alpha of the Hale pack.

Though the Hale siblings were twins, Derek was fifteen minutes older than Laura.

And life couldn’t be  _so_  harsh on him, all the time, every  _fucking_  time?

He was twenty one when he received a courting proposal from the Blake Pack.

Jennifer Blake was an intelligent omega, confident and independent. She was just a year older than Derek.  Derek remembered meeting her in one of the pack functions from the previous day and surprisingly, he had actually shared a genuine conversation with her there.

The very next day, Derek received the proposal.

Derek felt awkward to reject it right away. She looked like a nice lady. Hence, like a true gentleman, he actually dialled her number on Laura’s insistence, and his life suddenly rejuvenated from its miserable depths.

Jennifer’s soft voice rang in Derek’s ears, when she said “I am your soulmate.”

Derek had almost dropped the phone, stunned. He was not ready for such things. Such  _nice_  things.

He listened to her intensely when she spoke about how she had recognised his smell from her vague ‘coming of age’ memories. How desperately she wanted to drown in his scent and how she couldn’t afford to spend a single second away from him.

Derek had never given a thought to the fact that even though he was totally incapable of identifying his soul mate, his soul mate could definitely track him down.

Even after six months of dating Jennifer, he still wondered if this was true and was actually happening with  _him_ , that he was finally getting a chance to know his soul mate, for real.

 

Well, things were never going to remain  _good_ for him, ever.

 

No. It was not  _his_  relationship, this time, but his parents’.

Derek had smelled some tension between his parents, for a few months now, almost immediately after he had started dating Jennifer.

Their family dinners were not as fun as they used to be a few months back. He could smell a distinct acrid scent oozing out of his father that literally choked Derek on a couple of occasions. It felt vaguely like sadness, or even despair, in fact. His mother was not better, but there was this distinct aroma which clung to her all the time which suspiciously smelled like - happiness?

Could despair and happiness go hand in hand?

And last week, Derek received a call from the emergency were-Hospital saying that his father had an accident and he was admitted there.

Emergency were-Hospital… a highly unused entity, in the world of freaking werewolves who had super healing powers. And when that was getting used, at all, for any reason, then it was a clear sign of red-alert.

Derek ran to the hospital on the verge of shifting into his Beta form, shivering.

Laura was waiting outside the operating room, like a scared, wet puppy, and Derek felt as though his heart had stopped beating.

His father was an Alpha. He was a  _fucking_  HALE Alpha. Derek had heard tales of his ancestors possessing those  _superior_  wolf genes. In fact,  _that_ was one of the reasons why every other pack had envied them so much, or wanted to be a part of the Hales so desperately. Then why the hell his father was in the hospital, with those useless super-Hale-wolf genes?

And where was his mother?

Derek could smell Talia. She was around, or at least she had been there, sometime back. And then Derek just gaped at Laura, shocked, as his sister told him that his own mother was responsible for his father’s condition.

Talia had stumbled upon her mate, six months back.

That was the reason of the unspoken tension that ran around his parents all the time for the past six months, which eventually ended with Talia deciding to join her mate.

Derek felt like the ground was being pulled away from under his feet. He couldn’t even dare to imagine the state of his father’s mind. Derek’s heart broke for him.

The doctors said David Hale was undergoing some mental trauma, and his wolf was not ready to trigger the healing process. His wolf denied the healing. He was ready to accept  _death_ , over accepting a separation from his life-mate, who was sadly not his soulmate.

The Hale twins were waiting outside the operating room, terrified, shaking, hands clasped with each other, when Laura suddenly cried out, clenching Derek’s hand, eyes squeezed, tight.

When she opened her eyes, again, they flashed bright red…Alpha red.

David Hale died that day.

And Talia Hale was disowned by her own children that day, accusing her for the death of their father.

******

 

Laura was the new Alpha Hale.

And of course, Derek had no complaints. Everyone else though, did not agree with his opinion. Not even Laura.

“It’s not fair.” she exclaimed when they settled enough from the shock of losing their Alpha, their father, and their…mother. But Derek knew that there was a reason behind everything that happened in this werewolf world and everyone knew that reason, already. After all, Derek had fucked up big time with his own werewolf genes, long back, to even try to claim something as strong as an  _Alpha_  rank.

He was fucking Damaged.

It was no wonder if anyone (Harris) had thought that Derek was not good enough for the position of chairperson of Hale Enterprise, which had been occupied by Hale pack Alphas for ages.

 

******

Derek’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket, breaking the chain of his deep, depressing thoughts.

His lips softly twitched upwards when he noticed the number on the display.

“Hey Jennifer,” he muttered, in low tone. He was feeling so drained, physically and emotionally, after the board meeting today.

“Derek,” her voice rang into the speaker. “My dad wants me to try other propositions.”

Derek furrowed his eyebrows. Jennifer’s sentence did not make any sense to his already worn out brain.

“My pack needs it,” Jennifer continued as there was no response from Derek, or maybe she was not expecting any response from Derek. It mostly felt like a declaration. “I proposed to you thinking you would be…the future Hale…A-Alpha,” she stuttered in hesitation but continued. “But you aren’t, and you never will be. My pack needs a capable Alpha, and I am not ready to risk my future for  _nothing_.”

 

“What future? We…we’re…mates,” Derek struggled for words, he felt like he was dreaming. He  _hoped_  that this was just a dream. Why would his soulmate suddenly say such horrible things to him?

“I lied.”

There was a long pause.

“Huh?” Derek managed to get out, finally.

“I am not your soulmate, Derek,” Jennifer said, in a cold tone. “I lied to you,” she repeated.

With a blink of an eye, Derek shifted to his beta form, roaring as he crushed his cell phone in his clawed hand into pieces.


	2. The Meeting

Pain.

Derek felt like a sharp knife laced in wolfsbane was slicing through his heart, twisting in slow motion, from left to right and back again.

He was still wolfed out. His wolf was hurt and agitated…shattered.

He had been through alot, in the past. Heartbreak and betrayal were not new things for him. But  _this_  felt like the final nail in the coffin of his love-life.

_‘I am not ready to risk my future for nothing.’_

Nothing?

Derek felt like a piece of tissue paper, at the bottom of a dustbin, used by many and thrown away without a second thought.

Why him?

Why would someone use this sick trick to lie to him and pretend that they were his soulmate, for six  _fucking_  months?

Jennifer and the pack must have planned this way in advance. Not a single person from the Hale pack had caught her lies. Not even his Alpha father.

Derek knew that werewolf’s laws were strict and stringent. Many had found escape routes to circumvent them. Scent suppressors or scent instigators were quite easily available in the market. Some took official classes to control the wolf within them, like - controlling the shift or finding your anchor, even controlling your heartbeat and other senses and many had used these skills in daily routine and few had mastered it – like Jennif-...

That name still hurt like a scorpion sting.

For a moment, Derek just wondered, what if  _Derek was the one to become the Alpha_ , instead of Laura, after his father’s death? Was Jennifer willing enough to continue her fake soulmate drama for a lifetime?

A cold shiver ran up Derek’s spine, raising his hair, giving him goosebumps all over.

He tore off his tie, which was choking him now, with a furious slash of the claws. He couldn’t breathe. He desperately needed that gulp of fresh oxygen to pump the blood into his lungs. He needed to go out…away from this selfish world.

He huffed out a heavy sigh, and tried to control his trembling body. He rushed to his closet and tossed a couple of clothes and some extra cash inside the bag and shoved his thick wallet in his suit pant. He always kept a travelling kit ready; so packing-in-a-daze-condition was not a problem and was quick. He marched towards the window, flinging the bag over his shoulder. He was not going to wait in this house…this city.

Not even a second more.

He was about to lunge out of the window, when he paused and turned back.

Laura.

It was almost eleven at night and Laura was not home yet. She must be persuading (threatening) other committee members to rethink their decision.

Derek’s feet automatically made a beeline for her room. He did not have his cell phone and he regretted destroying it. The phone was his life, so many important folks just a finger touch away.  _Damn_. His gaze floated over Laura’s room, finally landing on her wooden dressing table. He wasn’t going to waste any more time searching for a pen and paper.

So he started scraping on the table’s surface with his claws.

**“Going away.”** he carved on the wooden piece, slowly moving his palm over the etched letters, clearing the powdery particles of wood away. He almost got up, but on a second thought, he continued.

 

**“Don’t follow.”** he added.

 

This was not new to Laura. Derek had taken this kind of break _,_ in the past. On one occasion he had disappeared for fifteen days, without any contact and freaked out all the members of his family. He was sure that Laura would understand and would give him  _his time_.

She was going to kill him when he returned, though, for spoiling her antique dressing table.

Derek jumped out of the window, landing gracefully on the ground. He tried to pamper his agitated mind with the cool, gentle wind of night, running through the narrow side paths, disoriented, till his legs hurt and his heart ached with its rapid, erratic beating.

He wanted to let his wolf free rather than suffocating him within, which was currently rotting in a poisonous heart ache.

 

******

 

Derek’s gaze scanned the bus timetable in front of him, which did not make any sense.

After burning his detrimental energy for an hour, he was back in human form. He realized that he was almost outside the city limits and had reached the last bus station on the city’s outskirts.

He couldn’t remember the last time he took a bus ride, but that was  because he never had taken one. But he was so not going to book a plane ticket, or hire a private car, or follow his usual travelling routine. Nope. Those involved just too much interactions and Derek was not in a mood for any kind of conversation, other than his emotional, internal, self-loathing rants.

The bus station was almost empty. It was midnight and Derek was not sure if they were even open. But he could hear a few random heartbeats around. He tracked two betas, probably the bus staff, heading towards the staff restroom.

He heard a few more heartbeats and scanned the badly lit area in search of their source.

They were coming from a bus that was parked in the station.

Okay. There was a bus, waiting for him to take him somewhere. To take him away.

For a moment, Derek just gaped at the retreating back of the bus staff, uncertain of what should be his next plan. Oh, hell with the plan. He was just going to collapse on some soft cushions, relax his body and clear up his disturbed mind.

Derek marched towards the bus adjusting his bag strap on the shoulder. He was not even sure if he would finish this bus journey or not.

Oh, Derek was definitely not going to finish this bus journey, for sure.

The moment he stepped into that bus, a putrid aroma hit his nose, hard. The bus reeked. Sweat, damp seats, rotting food, and piss. His head ached like someone was hammering it with a sharp object from inside. The interior of the bus looked like it had been cleaned once in the eighteenth century or something.

He wouldn’t survive this. Derek knew.

But what was he planning to do, if not this?

Quietly, Derek made his way to a random seat, ignoring the scrutinizing gazes of the other passengers, settling down in a search of comfort (which he seriously doubted). He patiently waited for bus to start already. He closed his eyes to concentrate, in an attempt to filter out all putrid senses around.

Soon he heard the footsteps of the staff returning from the restroom. They smelled tired. Night shifts must be tough. After a moment, the bus engine roared to a start.

Finally -

The bus jolted from the spot, when his ears caught frantic drumming of heartbeats, over the metallic rumble of bus engine, coming from somewhere nearby. Derek opened his eyes on instinct, ears twitching a little to grasp  _that_  sound a bit more.

“Hey! Hey, stop the bus! Stop the damn bus!” Someone yelled outside and the bus driver hit the brakes, hard, in response.

The heartbeat thudded even more rapidly, if that was possible, moving closer. The moment the bus door squeaked open, Derek’s nostrils flared with a sweet minty smell, which overpowered other pungent scents floating around within a second.

Omega, definitely young Omega.

A young omega.

Travelling in this  _crap_.

At this hour.

Alone -

It was like an open invitation to all those Alphas and Betas who must be lurking in some dark alley, somewhere.

Dangerous -

Foolish –

But why did  _Derek_  care?

Derek shifted in his seat, uncomfortably, resting his head on the back support, closing his eyes, again. He huffed out the sugary scent that was still lingering on his olfactory receptors.

The bus engine coughed to a start again, but the sound of the thumping heartbeat was not ready to fade away; in fact, it became crystal clear, like it was right up in front of his face.

“Hey man…that’s my seat.”

The Omega was still panting.

_Curly fries, chicken nuggets and…coke. Really?_

Derek opened his eyes, unwillingly.

He saw the red plaid shirt, up close, right in his line of sight and Derek had to move his head back to adjust his focus. Gradually, his gaze moved up, taking in every minute detail of the  _items_  in front of his vision.

A pulsing vein in the long neckline, which was dotted with moles. Moles randomly spread on a jaw, which stood out perfectly against the pale skin beneath. The bow shaped pink lips, parted in awe for no particular reason, just out of habit. The amazing shade of big amber eyes, fluttering and were currently focused on Derek.

Derek blinked, awkwardly, breaking his steady stare, which must have looked weird.

“This is my seat, I booked it online,” the Omega explained, quirking one eyebrow up, shoving the ticket printout into Derek’s nose.

Derek jerked away. He was definitely not interested in re-checking the Omega’s window claims here, because he was so drained physically and emotionally. So he quietly scooted over to the adjacent seat, and ignored the other werewolf.

“Actually, it doesn’t bother me much,” Omega pushed past towards the window seat, through the narrow leg space, stamping on Derek’s feet.

Derek clenched his jaws, but did not react, otherwise.

The Omega dumped his backpack on his seat and tried to stuff his duffel bag onto the baggage rack above them, and continued talking. “But hey, I am kind of having a bad day here. I missed my previous bus. And those jerks wouldn't give me my refund.”

The Omega pushed the bag in that tiny storage, with extra force, cursing the staff for their non-cooperation. He halted his palms in a catching position, making sure the bag wouldn’t fall.

“Can you believe that?” he huffed out, finally settling into his seat beside Derek, turning to look at Derek. “I had to wait at this shitty place for four _fucking_ hours, AND I  _SO_  NEED MY WINDOW VIEW, DUDE.” The Omega moaned, loudly.

Derek winced.

He felt the weight of the Omega’s stare on him. It took all the determination for Derek to concentrate all his senses on the dirty cover of the front seat.

“Sir, can I see your ticket please?”

A voice broke his internal thought-stream of freak out.

Derek furrowed his eyebrows, in confusion, looking up at the staff in front of him.

Fuck -

How could he have forgotten to buy a ticket? He had never travelled in the bus before. Okay. He was kind of out of his mind. Alright. But every _damn_  form of transportation required a ticket. What was he? Five?

“Trying to sneak in for free, huh?” The staff taunted.

Derek did not know what to respond to that, had he broken the law or something?

“Hey, hey, hey, just chill,” the Omega interrupted, before Derek could open his mouth, shooting up from his seat, like a lightning bolt, to face the staff. “I know how your bus service usually overbooked passengers  _by mistake_.” The last two words, he quoted in air with two fingers. “And sneak in random people to grab extra money, on a daily basis. Just look at him -” Omega paused, pointing his hand at Derek’s face, branded shirt and expensive suit pants, and lavish watch, “Does he look like a person who would sneak in for free?”

Derek felt awkward, as the two men stared at him, up and down. He just glared back at them, scrunching his eyebrows in irritation.

“Actually, he is going through a tough time. Y’know? He recently lost someone.”

Derek flinched, jerking his head to look at the Omega.

How could he possibly know?

Oh, the Omega was lying.

Omega didn’t know. He was lying, cleverly covering up for his wavering senses, using staff beta’s distractions and of course, nonstop chatter, which always had his heartbeat unsteady.

The staff did not seem to notice, though. And the Omega continued his babble, “He is kind of disturbed, and I think we should help him out. Can you give him the ticket now? He’ll pay you.” The Omega looked at Derek, demanding the agreement.

Derek’s gaze moved between the two men, uncertain. He sensed the other Beta lightly sniffed in the air coming from Derek, maybe confirming his distress. The lines on the beta’s forehead smoothed out, within a moment.

“Okay…Which station?” he asked, finally, watching Derek with thoughtful eyes.

Derek didn’t know what to respond. Again. Because he fucking didn’t know what bus he was travelling in. He swallowed, heartbeats thudding a little faster, in anxiety.

“Give him Beacon Hills,” The Omega cut in, in haste, “That’s the last stop right?  We’re all going to Beacon Hills.” The Omega let out a fake laugh, chancing a quick glance at Derek, checking for any objections. But there were none.

The man delightedly handed Derek a ticket for Beacon Hills.

“Sorry Dude, had to settle for the last stop. That beta looked tough.” Omega said, shrugging, slumping down in his window seat. “But seriously, why didn’t you buy a ticket?”

Derek scowled at him.

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Omega replied smugly, turning his attention outside the window, away from Derek.

And Derek thought that was the end of it.

“Are you new in this town?”

Omega started, not even a minute later. “Were you here for training? I was here for training.”

The Omega didn’t seem bothered if Derek wasn’t interested in conversation of any kind.

“My Dad sent me here for advanced Omega training. I had Scott with me…my best friend,” he provided, proudly, “But he is an Alpha and their training completed two days early, so he’s returned home already.” He looked at Derek.

**_Stop talking to me._ **

Derek was trying not to show any response, but Omega must be listening to his heartbeats, judging his scents and must know that Derek was listening to him.

“Why this discrimination?  Why do we have different trainings for different ranks? I mean, I would have preferred attending Alpha training with Scott, rather than spending a week with those rude Omegas, or even your Beta trainings are cool. You are a Beta, right?” he paused, expecting an answer.

**_Shut up._ **

Derek had his eyes closed, desperately hoping for sleep to take over.

“I wanna be badass, too.”

The Omega was not ready to stop. He relaxed into the seat, stretching his body in all directions, rotating his feet for comfort, occasionally checking for Derek.

“But my Dad wouldn’t understand. He gave me this ultimatum –  _Stiles, you are turning eighteen, next month, so attend the training or no Xbox for three months…and no Scott,_ ” Omega changed his voice, mimicking his father’s voice, maybe.

**_Stiles…Was that even a name?_ **

Derek focused on his breathing, trying to control it.

“I am sure he is planning to set me up with some Alpha. I heard him on the phone. I think some macho-Alpha is waiting for me with a courting proposal, back at home.  _God_ , they won’t even wait till I am eighteen. My Dad is a great  Alpha, by the way… just so you know, I don’t want you to misunderstand.”

**_Misunderstand?  WHEN IS THE NEXT REST STOP?_ **

Derek wanted to leave this bus so badly, like right now.

“Dad won’t force me. But I have other plans,” The Omega - Stiles’ steady heartbeat quivered, a little.

There was a pause.

**_Thank god._ **

“I am seeing someone,” Stiles added.

**_Silence -_ **

Derek suddenly released his senses, taking in anything, but Omega’s continuous jabber. For a moment, the foul scent of mildew from somewhere, felt more tolerable. But his eardrums kept vibrating with random sentences from the Omega, who was sitting too close to block his  _everything_.

“Victor is a Beta, so he’s not in my father’s shortlisted candidates for my courting.”

“I am so going to run away from Beacon Hills, like ASAP.”

“Dad’s gonna be so mad.”

“Scott would kill me.”

“After I am eighteen and marked, they will approve. They love me too much.”

“I can’t believe, I am sharing this with  _you._ ”

“Scott thinks Victor is an Asshole. So I couldn’t tell him about us.”

“Victor is - SHIT...I'm so sorry.”

The bus bounced on the speed bump and Stiles’ bag fell right on Derek’s head from the top shelf.

The bag wasn’t heavy, for a werewolf, but it completely took Derek by surprise and he responded impulsively.

Claws out, teeth baring, eyes flashing…Blue.

“Whoa!”

The Omega let out a gasp and stared right into Derek’s eyes. It took Derek a moment to realize  _why_.

No. Derek was so not ready to face this right now - the look of terror, the whiff of disgust - those were the default reactions from others, who had witnessed the  _demon_  within him.

But, Derek’s nostrils twitched with a wave of tangy smell of  _amusement_ , instead.

“Do you even know the scent of your soulmate? You look quite young.”

Derek shuddered, as the question hit him, hard. He gaped at Stiles, stunned.

The question was personal, and it scratched open so many unhealed wounds. He swallowed the thick lump gathering in the throat, heart pounding against his ribcage, faster, harder.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Omega shifted towards Derek, hands flailing like they were twitching for contact, to offer comfort. But, he didn’t touch. “You don’t have to answer that.” Omega muttered in a soft tone.

Derek’s shoulder muscles slumped, a little, relieving the tension there. He blinked and the blue faded from his eyes, retreating the claws and fangs, slowly.

Stiles scanned Derek’s face, in concern, as the Beta ducked his head, averting the curious glances from the Omega.

How the hell did this under aged, chatty Omega know these things about Damaged werewolf’s soulmate scent, which had taken them detailed discussions with respectable elders from the other packs, for weeks.

“I did my school project on blue-eyed werewolves, last year.”

Stiles replied as if he heard Derek’s mind. “I had to googled everything, because I didn’t know anyone, y’know, who is -”

“Damaged?” Derek snapped, clenching his jaws, glowering at Stiles.

“You can talk?”

The Omega exclaimed, in astonishment, wide eyed and open mouthed, gawking at Derek.

Derek rolled his eyes, making an exasperated sound, sagging deep into his smelly seat.

Derek was so getting off this bus, the very next chance he got.

 


	3. The Argument

Stiles stirred in his sleep. He scratched his neck, adjusting his position on the highly uncomfortable and narrow seat. His neck muscles ached, as they had been squished on the back support at an awkward angle, for God knows how long. He would heal though.

“Can someone start the damn AC, please?”

He mumbled, eyes fluttering open, slowly, still heavy with sleep. He was drenched in sweat and the stale air around him was suffocating all his senses, especially with no AC, and no movement.

The bus had halted at the rest stop.

Stiles noted the time on the wrist watch.

2 AM.

Great. The bus should be halting here for fifteen minutes, at least, so he could go outside and maybe breathe a little fresh air, then.

“Hey man, you wanna-”

He stopped dead, at the sight of the empty seat beside him.

**_Was I dreaming?_ **

He squinted his eyes and tried to stir his blurry memory, which was currently drowned in a lingering sleep. No. He clearly remembered the earthy scent, like the aroma of the ground when rain hits it, mixed with that mild soothing aftershave. That Beta had smelled so  _good_. He remembered those  pale green eyes, flecked with  grey, brown and blue, that mingled so well. Those thick dancing eyebrows, which talked so much better than the man himself.  The never fading scowl and that thick, unbearable scent of agony.

The Beta had looked annoyed with his constantly furrowed eyebrows but had smelled broken, depressed. As if, he was hiding some dark misery with a façade of aloofness.

For a moment, Stiles wondered what could have caused him so much pain, but he quickly realised that an  _empty seat_  was not a good sign, especially in this secluded area at two in the morning and with a dangerously miserable mind-set. The Beta shouldn’t be roaming around, alone, at all.

He got up from his seat, looking around for the familiar tall, muscled figure. But he couldn’t locate him. The bus was filled with snoring sounds, coming from different corners of the bus; unclear mumbles, ruffling clothes and a crying pup. Many were in deep sweet-early-morning sleep. He breathed in a thick gulp of air to track that earthy scent one more time.

Yes, the scent was still lingering around. It had faded a little, but was still noticeable. The Beta must be nearby, somewhere. He got down from the bus.

The cool breeze of morning air pleasantly tickled his uncovered skin, refreshing his body and mind. The road was poorly lit with broken street lights, still wrapped under the dark cover of the night.

 ** _Danger. Go back_** _-_ his subconscious called out.

 ** _Find the beta_** _-_  his wolf called back.  

He stopped, taken aback a little.

Well, his subconscious mind had always alerted him of danger. Stiles was so prone to danger because of his  _Act-first-Think-never_  attitude. His wolf feelings, though, would always agree to his subconscious like an old pal.  

But not today. Why? Why was he so worried about the man he had hardly known for two hours? He did not even know the man’s name. Then why?

Stiles shook his head and tried to wipe out all these weird, baseless thoughts. But, he listened to his wolf and quietly followed the trail.

There was no one on the streets. No one. Definitely not a night-life friendly town then. However, a few vehicles zoomed past him at regular intervals, clearly speeding. After all, there was no one to maintain the law here.

He continued his march down the road, as the Beta’s scent grew thicker in the air and kept one ear focused on the sounds from the bus. Actually, it was easy with the pup’s wailing noise.

After a while, everything felt distant and barely audible, even the wailing.

The Beta had gone farther than Stiles had initially predicted. For a moment, he doubted if the man was ever planning on returning. His heart thudded rapidly at the thought.

He was alone, on the empty streets of some ghost town, not sure if his voice would reach anyone’s ears if he shouted for help, just in case.

**_Stop. Turn around._ **

**_Not yet buddy, go on. Just a little more._ **

Stiles was feeling completely disoriented with the internal tug-of-war of thoughts.

And then, a thick clear wave of sadness hit his nose, hard.

Finally -

He let out a heavy breath, which had been making his chest tight. He increased his pace, and saw the beta sitting on the bench at the side of the road.

He had leaned forward with elbows on his knees, hands clasped tightly, shoulders slumped down (as if they had been carrying tons of weight), and gaze pinned to the ground, unfocused.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?”

Derek jerked in response, raising his head up to gape at Stiles, in utter shock.

How had he not heard Stiles approaching? Had he blocked the senses so tight?  _Not good!_

The surprise on the Beta’s face quickly changed to frustration. He scowled at Stiles, clearly not happy to see him there.

“Why are you here? Are you following me?”

“No!”

Stiles blurted it out, like a reflex, and he watched Derek’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. “I mean, I was just…looking for you,” he stuttered, trying to cover up for his lie, before quickly changing the topic, “They’re leaving in five, maybe two minutes -”

“I’m not coming,” Derek cut in, hissing out every single word, spreading his hands over the back of the bench.

“What?” Stiles asked, in surprise.

“Are you deaf?”

“Are you crazy?”

There was a long pause, where they both glared at other, until-

Derek broke eye contact, clenched his jaw, and ignored Stiles, as if he wasn't there.

Stiles stood there tapping a foot, before his gaze finally landed on Derek’s bag.

“Is this really where you want to get down?  It’s not safe -”

“Why do you care?”

_‘God, the Beta is difficult.’_

Stiles opened his mouth to snap back, but his ears twitched with a distant sound of the bus ignition turning on to a quick start and then going silent.

“Oh crap. The bus is starting, let’s go.” Stiles stepped forward, stopping right in front of Derek. His entire body vibrated with anxiety. “If we don't start running, like right now, I don't think we're gonna make it.”

“Leave me alone!” Derek spat, through his gritted teeth. After a second, though, he let out a heavy sigh. “You should go now,” he added, lowering his tone, but still sounding blunt.

Stiles swallowed. He stared into Derek’s eyes for ten seconds, as if he could fetch some answers through them. He heard the bus engine roar again and settle into the steady vibrations, ready to go. Stiles couldn't afford to waste a second more, if he actually wanted to catch that bus.

He took three steps back still facing Derek, his wolf urging him to stay.

"Okay then,” Stiles huffed out. “This is your last chance, man. I’m not gonna ask you again. Are you coming…or not?”

Derek didn’t reply.

He folded his hands, resting them on his broad chest and stared straight into Stiles’ eyes, looking determined.

"Right then. Enjoy!" Stiles said, finally turning his back on the Beta and sprinting for the bus, like his tail was on fire.

******

 

Stiles wolfed out and ran for it.

He started running on two legs first, but swiftly changed to all fours to reach the bus as quickly as possible.

He could clearly hear the screeching sound of the bus tyres, and the pup, who was still crying. He dashed forward, pushing his limits. He knew he was fast, even faster than Scott, and the bus would take a while before overpowering his wolf speed.

**_Beta…the Beta is alone._ **

His wolf kept on repeating it like a chant, mercilessly shaking his already weak resolve.

Well, this was the place where the Beta wanted to get down, and even if it was not, Stiles was not going to drag an adult Beta’s adamant ass back onto the bus. Could he? Maybe he had just got fed up with the stinking bus, or maybe with Stiles himself. And he looked strong, totally capable of protecting himself. And maybe he wouldn’t try anything stupid in his distressed condition-

Stiles heart twitched a little with the sound of uncertainty of that thought and he turned his neck to look back quickly, still running ahead.

Stiles watched as Derek’s outline became blurry. His steady heartbeat grew distant, although it was still audible. His scent lingered over Stiles’ nostrils, strong, almost overpowering. Stiles could feel those sharp green eyes on him, looking at –

Damn -

Stiles’ legs toppled over the uneven surface of a speed bump.

The impact was intense, mostly because Stiles was running with the speed equivalent to a vehicle on the  highway, looking backward and unfocused.

His body flew to the road, without touching the grounds for quite a few meters, finally bouncing to a stop on a concrete bench at the side of the road, chest first. Then he landed on the rough surface of the road below, hitting his back side hard. Something cracked there, again.

Stiles felt his heart stop with the impact.

Eventually, the quick glance at the Beta turned out to be the biggest mistake of his already shitty day.

He lay there, unmoving. Even the natural heaving of a chest shot piercing pain right to his brain. He squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his fist tight in a failed attempt to absorb the ache. He tried to guess the intensity of the damage.

**_A broken rib, bruised knees and battered elbows. That's it!_ **

And a cracked cell phone.

**_Holy fucking-… Cell phone…why?_ **

He kept completely still, while his healing triggered and slowly started knitting the cracked parts of his body. Oh, that hurt even more. Stiles bit his lips, trying to suppress the muffled cry escaping his mouth.

The repair took long, almost felt like an eternity.

After a moment, his senses got distracted by an approaching thudding of a heartbeat and that familiar earthy scent.

Great -

Stiles rolled his eyes beneath the closed eyelids, clenching his jaw. He took the support of his almost healed elbows and slowly raised his body into a sitting position.

“Are you alright?”

Stiles opened his eyes like a flash and found himself staring right back into  _concerned_ green ones.

**_Yeah, right!_ **

He did not answer and tried to stand up. Derek offered him a hand for support. Stiles ignored him.

Stiles pushed himself up harder. Mistake. Again. He stumbled, a little, before steadying himself into a standing position. That simple movement felt like a stab through the chest. His rib was yet to heal.

"Of course I am alright,” Stiles barked, shooting words at Derek. “I just missed the fucking bus, because of you!”

"Me?” Derek snarled, furrowing his eyebrows, “I didn't ask you to come and look for me."

"Oh right, I am an Idiot,” Stiles bellowed. The pain in his chest felt nothing in comparison to the sudden rage that crept into his brain “I thought…I thought, maybe the guy smells like death and I shouldn’t leave him alone, or maybe I should go and check if he’s having some suicidal attack. But then look at me-” He marched forward pressing into the Derek’s space.“I lost all my luggage, cracked a few bones, broke my cell phone. I…I have no fucking clue what I’m going to do now…No, wait…Here’s what I am going to do-” Stiles stopped right in front of Derek. “I am going to chase that damn bus down, right now. And YOU-“ he paused, tapping his index finger on Derek’s chest.

"You are so going to help me out…and THAT’S FUCKING FINAL!"

Stiles roared, eyes glowing yellow.


	4. Help

Nobody dared to threaten Derek Hale like this…well, except for Laura.

And this...skinny, noisy, hyperactive, spaz was flashing Derek his yellow-gold eyes? Was he really asking for help or trying to bully him? Like, Derek would care if some Omega showed him his wolf-eyes, or fangs, or Claws or whatever he’s got. Yes, Derek would definitely feel intimidated by his nonstop chatter, though. That was quite scary and unbearable. What was up with this guy? He was in pain, injured, not fully healed, lost, but the kid was just not ready to stop his angry jabber. How much energy had he stored to waste on useless babble. Given the chance, Derek wouldn’t open his mouth for days, but this one here…God!

Derek scanned Stiles’ face, which was just few inches apart from his. Derek didn't budge. He stood there like his legs were pinned to the road, he tried to block the unceasing ramble which now seemed like a bee’s buzzing.

Stiles was shivering with pain, and fury.

Derek gazed into the Omega’s yellow eyes, which were giving those soothing amber eyes quite a fierce effect, especially with surrounding clouds of rage.

More than angry, the boy smelled hurt, physically, of course; but emotionally, as well. Maybe from the blunt remarks from Derek, or maybe he was going crazy because he had just hit his head or something.

“Urgh.”

Stiles made an exasperated sound right in Derek’s face, but quickly squeezed his eyes, as if in an attempt to control his wolf. Finally, he took a step back. Eyes still shut tight. He ducked his head, panting heavily. His chest twitched with the ache in his ribs and Derek could wholeheartedly swear on it, that he physically felt the Omega’s pain, Stiles’ pain.

Well, he was a werewolf and could easily feel the signals coming from others. He would definitely sense the intensity of the injury and if the hurt person was from his close circle - like Laura or family…No…Laura was the only family he had left with. Talia Hale was no family, not anymore – the pain would also  _physically_  bother Derek. But this was different.

There was a difference in sensing others’ pain and feeling others’ pain like it was your own.

Yes. Derek felt that sudden twinge in his chest, shooting straight to his brain, like a knife was stabbing through his chest. Strange! Why would he feel the pain of some stranger werewolf? Or maybe he was just mixing his own pain with the Omega’s.

“We are going to take a lift from…someone, and then…then we will follow the bus.”

Stiles’ shaky voice cut Derek’s chain of thought. The Omega’s eyes were human now, and staring straight at Derek. Something tugged at Derek's heart as he witnessed the confused, tense look in those amber eyes, again.

“Okay.”

The words slipped from Derek’s mouth, before he could stop them.

“NO! We will foll-…w-wait…what?” Stiles stammered, blinking his eyes, like he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Maybe the boy was expecting some more protest, some fight and absolute refusal from Derek. There was a sudden glitch in his heartbeat, which settled down immediately, when Derek’s words actually processed through his brain.

Derek did not break eye contact, to convey that he really meant to help him.

Stiles finally closed his parted lips and soothed the stress-lines from his forehead. His heartbeat settled down after a while.

“Okay then,” Stiles huffed out a choked sigh, in relief, nodding at Derek. His lips twitched a little, in a half smile.

All of the signals of worry, confusion and wariness which had been oozing out of the boy, evaporated into thin air within a second.

And Derek felt good. Calm.

******

 

What the fuck was Derek thinking when he agreed to this plan?

All the vehicles were zooming past them, as if they didn't exist. Nobody stopped, or even slowed down.

And why would they? It was just past two in the morning and stopping your car to offer a lift to some random strangers did not look like a logical option.

Stiles, though, somehow managed to ignore that fact.

He waved at them, yelled at them, ran after them (it looked like he had healed completely). He stumbled after them on a few occasions, and eventually, when they did not respond, he cursed at them, flailing his hands, kicking his legs.

Idiot -

Derek rolled his eyes, making exasperated sounds, looking at the boy. Of course he was supposed to help Stiles, but the Omega did not look like he needed any help.

“Hey what are you looking at?” Stiles walked towards Derek, in utter frustration. “You think this is easy?” he added, shoving his hands in the jeans pockets.

Derek shrugged, nonchalantly.

“Alright, then why don’t  _you_  try, big guy? C’mon, let me see what you got,” Stiles said it like a challenge. He made his way to the bench and sprawled over it relaxing his limbs, pointing a chin at Derek, to continue.

_Okay!_

Derek gave Stiles a death glare before moving ahead, a little, off from the side of the road. He focused his eyes at the far end of the road. He did not sense anyone, yet. He unbuttoned his sleeves cuffs and rolled it just over his elbows. He shook his hands to relax muscles there, as if preparing himself for some fight.

After a moment or two, he heard the first car approaching. He breathed in the thick gulp of air, to analyse.

_Alpha…In his forties…Alone…Still had a strong effect of wolfs-bane laced alcohol._

_Not safe!_

Derek had an irresistibly sweet smelling under aged, unmated Omega with him and drunken, lonely, Alpha seemed like a dangerous option. Derek took a step back, letting the car pass by, without any interruptions.

He heard a snort from behind, which Derek ignored. 

Soon, Derek watched the second car approaching.

_Beta…In her thirties…No alcohol…But travelling with the speed of approximately 65-70 mph._

Derek moved forward, pointing his hand out to signal the driver. The car approached him, fast.

“Hey!” Derek called out, in an attempt to grab the attention of the driver.

The speed increased to 70 mph…80 mph…and more…

The car zoomed past him and Derek heard a thundering laughter from behind.

_That little piece of shit!_

Derek clenched his jaws, huffed out an irritated sigh, but did not turn back, focussing on the road ahead.

He did not have to wait for long. The third car came within a second.

_A pack…three Alphas and two Omegas. All adults._

_No place!_

Derek still held his grounds. Maybe they were willing to make some space to accommodate the troubled werewolves.

The car dropped its speed. Finally. Derek smelled pretty mixed signals from all of them. Spicy smell of food, a tinge of alcohol, and sex.

_They must be returning from some party._

The car suddenly took an inward turn towards Derek. Initially, Derek thought, they were actually stopping by, but no.

“Take him Ennis,” a Lady Alpha from the back seat coldly hissed at the driver-Alpha and the driver wheeled the car in Derek’s direction, without reducing its pace, almost ramming into Derek. 

Derek quickly fell back to avoid the contact. His knees and palms scrapped badly against the rough surface of the road, before he crouched down on the grounds on all fours, in an instantaneous alert position.The vehicle roared past him, honking. He heard delighted shout outs of teasing and excitement, coming from the car.

 

_Yes, someone’s pain was fun for someone else!_

“Assholes!” Derek heard Stiles yell. Derek felt him marching a few meters after them, shouting out his full stock of curses. But Derek did not look back. He was not ready to face a teasing smirk, or a smug reply or anything else from the Omega.

He raised his body into a standing position, slowly, dusting off  his clothes to clear the dirt and then quietly watched as another car approached, not long after.

It was a grey Toyota Camry. The model looked quite old, though, must be built around 2005. Derek got a whiff of driver’s honeyed scent, mixed in a strong flowery perfume. Okay. Derek could live with that.

_Alpha…Female Alpha…In her late fifties…Running at 25 mph._

Alright!

Derek felt some hope.

He was alert now, in case the lady was in a mood to follow the previous pack of jerks. But she smelled calm. And then, her car was right in front of Derek, just a few meters away and there was a sudden increase in her heart rate.

Derek knew that the lady was not going to halt.

_Damn-_

This time, Derek turned around to look back at Stiles. He had enough. They were losing time and even by some miracle, if some angel would decide to stop they still wouldn’t make it to catch the bus on time and they would –

Derek’s heart skipped a beat on the sight of empty bench behind.

_Where the hell-_

“NO!” Derek let out a yell from the pit of his stomach, when he tracked the Omega.

Stiles was standing in the middle of the road,  just a few feet from the car and before Derek could blink, Derek lunged ahead to stand right between the line of the moving car and Omega, like some shield.

But Derek was no shield.

He was a werewolf, having some badass healing powers. But for a moment Derek seemed to forget that he could still get dashed by a speeding car, which could still break every single bone of his body, which would take days, maybe weeks to repair the damage.

The headlights of the car flashed in front of his vision, piercing through his eyes and Derek had to squeeze them shut. That was the only reaction he could manage, before the car’s tyres screeched in his ears, too close. He tightened his muscles preparing himself for the impact, but instead, he heard the engine go silent, with a thud.

It was like someone hit pause.

Derek felt Stiles’ heavy breath ruffling the tiny hairs on the back of his neck. He felt Stiles’ firm grip on his bicep, scratching the skin under his shirt. Stiles’ heartbeat was shooting sky high. He smelled scared.

The Omega had just jumped in front of the moving car and now he was scared to get hit by it. Great!

Derek whipped around to face Stiles.

“Have you lost your mind?”

Stiles took a step back, releasing Derek with a start. “I…I knew she wasn’t going to stop.”

“And  _still_  you stood there in the middle of the road, like some statue!” Derek covered the distance, barking at the Omega.

“DO YOU TWO MORONS HAVE A DEATHWISH OR SOMETHING?”

The Alpha’s shout was violent, over and above the enraged yelling from Derek. They both jolted to look at the source.

The lady pulled out half of her body outside the window and screamed at them, flashing her red eyes. She immediately dragged her body in, before she sprang out of the car, striding towards them, in frustration.

“If you are planning on dying together, then go somewhere else and not in front of my car. Do you get it?”

Derek just nodded numbly in response, taken aback. The lady was scary, even more than Stiles’ nonstop chatter.

“Ma’am,” Stiles sprinted after the Alpha, who had turned to go back to her car. “Please, please, please help us,” Stiles started, in his perfect shrieking voice. “We missed our bus to Beacon Hills and I have lost my entire luggage there. I don’t even have enough money to reach home. Please help us to catch that bus, please?”

The alpha stopped. Her solid, scrutinizing gaze hovered over the two of them. She must be listening to their heartbeats and catching up senses.

“Alright,” She approved, finally. “Hop in. You seem desperate to catch that bus, huh, enough to even jump in front of the car. I can follow it till a few stations ahead.”

“Yes! Thank you so much.” Stiles exclaimed in delight, clapping a hand on Derek’s shoulder, unable to control his overwhelming happiness.

Derek growled, looking between Stiles and the hand, which was still resting on Derek’s shoulder.

“I’m taking my hands off,” Stiles removed his hand with a jerk. “Don’t bite me,” he added, smirking.

Derek followed the Alpha, pushing past Stiles, bumping their shoulders, on purpose. He still did not understand why he needed to accompany the Omega now that he had gotten help. But his wolf urged him to follow, at least till the boy reached some safe destination, like the stinking bus. Well, not like Derek had any other important plans to take care of, so it all felt…normal.

Derek tossed his bag in the back seat, and sat there. Stiles joined him saying, “You are a lifesaver. You have no idea, Ma’am -”

“Maggie. Call me Maggie,” The lady provided. “And no need to thank me. My son is around your age. I can understand.” She started the car, looking between the young werewolves from the rear view mirror, smiling. “You kids should really take a pity on your parents sometimes, before going on some adventure at this odd hour.”

“We are not on an adventure,” Derek protested, barging in between, leaning ahead, hands clamp on the back of the front seat. He felt the weight of Stiles’ stare on him, but he ignored him like it was his second nature. “This is a mess. I…We are…Uh…it’s a long story,” he ended abruptly. It seemed easier to just agree with the woman than explain their inexplicable situation. Adventure? The word didn’t even come close to the shitshow that was his life right now. He just watched as the smile on Maggie’s face grew wider and he leaned back relaxing into his seat; to take in whatever this shitty night had to offer more.

And he wasn’t disappointed.

The boys looked at the speedometer, like it had grown a horn or something.

The reading did not budge beyond twenty five miles per hour. Derek had to blink multiple times, because he couldn’t believe his eyes. They were supposed to fucking chase the bus, which was at least thirty minutes ahead of them and currently roaring with a minimum speed of fifty mph.

Right –

And for the first time, the two werewolves in the backseat looked at each other in utter agreement, with the matching scrunch in the eyebrows.

_This was not going to work, for sure!_

There was a silent conversation, which took place between the two, deciding on how to start and who to start, before Derek clenched his teeth and threatened Stiles to continue, with his eyes.

“So Maggie, looks like you have been travelling for a long now.” Stiles started.

“Oh yes, sweetie” Maggie agreed.

“I know. So now that you have given us a ride, we can definitely offer some time for you to relax, a bit, if you...if you letusdrive?”

“Huh?”

“If you let us drive. I mean, you seem tired and -”

“Not you. Do you even have a license?”

“What?” Stiles exclaimed, “I am eighteen. I mean, almost eighteen,” Stiles provided totally feeling upset by lady’s statement.

“Still no. But you can,” She pointed at Derek. The Alpha must be really feeling exhausted and maybe needed a desperate break.

“Oh, he will totally drive,” Stiles committed before Derek could open his mouth, like it was his second nature.

Derek shot a glare at him. But Stiles continued convincing the lady, who was already convinced.

“He is an awesome driver. His driving is smooth, like butter and he’s got this classy red Ferrari at home -”

“Black Camaro,” Derek grunted, in protest.

“Absolutely, Camaro it is, then, a Black one.” Stiles winked at Derek, smiling with his typical smirk.

And Derek knew that this was going to be the very long drive.


	5. Not Again!

 

 

Stiles rubbed his hands in anxiety as Derek took a seat behind the wheel.

“Yeah buddy, let’s go!” he cheered, leaning ahead resting his forearms against the front seat, behind Derek. Stiles was planning on encouraging Derek further. Then, as if Derek had caught on his intentions, the car suddenly filled with the thudding sound of the engine, making Stiles shut his mouth with a click. Derek had turned the ignition on and waited for a moment, to let the fuel pump in.

And then, the car went roaring on the road, already crossing the allowed speed limits, within a few seconds.

“Oh God! Son, just take it slow okay?” Maggie exclaimed when the car took a sharp turn, without compromising on the speed, “I don’t want to die so young,” she added.

Stiles jerked his head to look at the Alpha, who was pinned on the seat clenching the covers, tight, like a scared kitty. Stiles pursed his lips in an attempt to suppress a laugh. But then he noticed Derek had spun around to shoot Maggie an apologetic look.

“Whoa, big guy, eyes on the road,” Stiles let out a panicked shout and like a reflex action, he held Derek’s head from back and rotated it to face the front, “I don’t want to die so young either,” he added, before jerking his hands away when the man growled. The Beta, for some reason, was awkward with the touches.

Stiles took his original position behind Derek and breathed in. The Beta’s scent felt soothing over his own jittery feelings. He rested his chin on his  forearms and watched as the road passed by ridiculously fast, like in a video game. This was by far his fastest ride ever and he had no regrets. Derek was his only hope. The next rest stop was two towns over, in Sunnydale, and Stiles was counting on Derek to catch the bus there.

“What’s your name, kid?” The Alpha’s voice cut Stiles’ chain of thoughts.

“Oh, haven’t I introduced myself yet?” Stiles moved back, in surprise and turned to Maggie. “I’m Stiles,” he almost offered his hand, but halted it in the mid-air as he noticed that the lady had a deathly grip on the edge of her seat.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

Stiles tilted his head, looking up so fast he almost got whiplash. He heard violent coughing coming from the front seat. Derek had choked on air or something.

“No,” Stiles blurted out quickly, squinting his eyes at Maggie. The question was quite random, or maybe the lady was looking for a distraction. After all, arbitrary interrogations sounded more appealing than freaking out at the corner of the back seat of her own car.

“Oh, then is he your soulmate?”

“What? No,” Stiles exclaimed. For the first time in his life, he was completely short of words. The car jolted on the turn and Stiles knew that the Beta was having a hard time concentrating as well. Stiles smelled the scent of tension suddenly growing thick in the air.

“Oh, too bad. You two would make a pretty good pair.” The lady was not ready to back off and Stiles ears filled with the frantic drumming of Derek’s heartbeat.

“Maggie,” Stiles squeaked, outstretching his hands in front of her, as if that would stop the advance. “We just met like three hours ago and he’s just helping me to catch my bus and can you  _please_  slow down with your questions, the guy is kind of having a heart attack here,” he pleaded, pointing at Derek.

“But I’m freaking out here, with all his crazy driving and I can’t relax, if I don’t talk,” Maggie retorted, banging her fist on the seat, making Stiles bounce on it. Stiles would totally understand. The lady smelled panicked. “And I’m kinda having second thoughts about letting him drive my baby. I guess, I should take back the wheel -”

“NO!” Stiles exclaimed going all petrified with the thought, itself. “I…uh…I am totally up for talking, or I could sing a lullaby to you, if that would help you to relax -”

“Or…we could put the radio on,” Derek interrupted, cutting through Stiles’ suggestion.

“My radio is broken...”

“Okay,” Stiles let out a heavy sigh, thinking hard. He continued after a moment, quirking his eyebrow at Maggie, mischievously. “Then, would you like to hear it from the man, himself? Baby?” he held a fist in front of his mouth, like a microphone.

Maggie blinked at him, her smell quickly changing from agitated to amused.

And Stiles started singing

**_‘Listen baby…Ooo!’_ **

Maggie huffed out a laugh.

“What!” Derek muttered in shock, shaking his head.

**_‘Ain't no mountain high, Ain't no valley low, Ain't no river wide enough baby…’_ **

Stiles put his hand-microphone in front of Maggie and she joined him, delightedly.

**_‘If you need me call me, No matter where you are, No matter how far;’_ **

**_‘Don't worry baby._** ’

Stiles sang, high pitched, swaying his body with the rhythm and Maggie responded, matching Stiles’ tone and posture.

**_‘Just call my name; I'll be there in a hurry. You don't have to worry.’_ **

They both raised their chin up, and howled out –

**_‘OH BABY THERE…_ **

**_Ain't no mountain high enough,_ **

**_Ain't no valley low enough,_ **

**_Ain't no river wide enough,_ **

**_To keep me from getting to you babe!’_ **

“Ooo!” Stiles chirped in excitement. He chanced a glance at Derek.

Derek’s gaze was still focused on the road, but fingers drumming on the steering wheel, his lips had a slight upward turn at the corner and Stiles felt something melt in his heart on that sight. It was the first time he had seen the Beta so…relaxed.

And Stiles liked it, liked the eased scent in the surrounding air. His smile spread wide from ear to ear and with a new found exhilaration, Stiles joined Maggie back to complete the song.

This was definitely one of his favourite rides, by far.

******

 

“Look, there it is!” Stiles shouted in delight.

They had crossed the towns in an hour – thanks to Derek’s crazy driving and Stiles’ motivating song marathon. They just had entered the Sunnydale bus station, where they finally located the bus, which had halted for a rest stop.

“Oh, come on. C'mon, c'mon,” Stiles desperately thumped the back of front seat, overflowing with excitement of seeing that stinky bus. Finally!

“You can jump out, if you want. That would be faster, I guess,” Derek replied, in irritated tone.

Stiles eyed him, scrunching his eyebrows. “Wow, you didn’t utter a single word for past hour. It’s really nice to see you finally getting your voice back,” Stiles retorted, with a smug smile.

Stiles watched Derek roll his eyes, from the rear view mirror, but did not reply. Derek quietly turned the wheel to park the car at the side of the road.

“Yes, we have made it!” Stiles exclaimed quickly getting out of the car, before it had completely stopped. He looked up at the sky, punching the air in ecstasy. He almost thought of running to the bus, but he turned back instead, holding on to his anxiety, just for a while.

The other two werewolves were out of the car, gazing at him.

“Hey Maggie, thank you so so much for giving me the ride,” He marched towards her and bent down to quickly peck a kiss on her cheek, surprising the Alpha. “I really had a nice time. You are awesome, you know that?”

Maggie grabbed his face and kissed his forehead. “Me too, kiddo. I am going to miss you.”

Stiles took a step back, when Maggie released him. He turned towards Derek, half raising his arms for a hug or something and watched the Beta flinch. Great.

“Thanks man, you are awesome too,” Stiles diverted his hand to lightly clap on the man’s arm. The Beta relaxed. But Stiles felt something...not right, like he was leaving something behind and he blurted out the first thought that struck to his brain, “You aren’t coming with me? You have a ticket till Beacon Hills.”

“Really? You seriously want to start that…again?” Derek asked furrowing his eyebrows.

Oh yes, they had this conversation before,  in fact, that was one of the reasons he had missed the bus. Stiles scanned those green eyes to check if the Beta was being absolutely sure about his decisions. He looked okay, though, in comparison to how he had looked (and smelled) a  few hours back. So, maybe he would be fine. But –

“Just go…” Derek added. Stiles might have been staring at him longer than was comfortable for him. “Before you lose the bus again.”

“Hey, don’t jinx it.” Stiles retorted and took a step back, eyes still fixed on the Beta. He felt another pair of eyes on him. Right. Maggie. She was still there, enjoying younger werewolves exchanging the dialogue. “Bye guys. It was nice meeting you two…and thanks again.” Stiles waved at them and finally ran towards the bus.

After a moment, he heard the car engine starting and going distant. He did not turn back but his ears twitched to catch the familiar thudding sound of the Beta’s heartbeat. His earthy scent was still thick in the air. The Beta…Shit…Stiles didn’t even know his first name. He was with the guy for four fucking hours and after all that bickering and leg pulling and…fun, Stiles hadn’t even asked for his name.

Stiles got distracted by the now familiar sounds of snoring and murmuring and wailing. He had reached the bus. Quickly, he got on again, and got to his seat, straight away. His luggage was safe, untouched. He let out the heavy sigh, and wondered if anyone had noticed him missing. Probably not.

He dropped down in his seat, panting, exhausted. The scent of stale air burnt through his lungs with each inhalation. The AC was still off. God! He felt his throat going dry and urged for water. The song marathon with Maggie was finally costing him bad. It had been hours since he had eaten or drunk anything. He opened his bag and quickly searched for a bottle. It was empty.

Stiles let out an exasperated sound, tossing the bottle back inside the bag. He stirred in his seat uncomfortably and swallowed in a failed attempt to wet his throat. That didn't help, at all. The closed bus felt like a trapped oven. He struggled for a few minutes more, before it completely reached beyond his tolerance limits and he bolted off from his seat.

He marched to the door, peeking his head out, to take in the fresh air from outside. The sweet fragrance of flowers, grass, morning dew, some damp garbage, the salty flavour of snacks and... coke. His gaze wavered to track the source of smell.

It was a vending machine.

The machine was standing in the corner of the bus station, just few meters away from the bus. The area was dark, but who would care when your throat is going dehydrated with the unbearable thirst, and when you had a sharp eye sight. Stiles climbed down from the bus, mentally calculating the time required to grab a can of coke or some chips, maybe. Two minutes. Max.

He ran towards the machine taking out the money from his wallet. He pressed his nose against the machine glass, flaring his eyes yellow, to track the items inside.

_B3 – coke. A2 – Chips_

Quickly, he put in the required amount and pressed B3, first. The can of coke moved forward, but did not fall into the bottom slot.

It got stuck. He pressed the button few more times, but the can did not budge.

 _Damn it_.

Stiles thumped his hand at the side of the machine in irritation and the machine swayed on the spot for a while before crashing on the floor, making a loud thudding sound.

_SHIT –_

Stiles scanned the place from left to right, holding his breath in.

Luckily, no one came to check it out.

He let out a choked sigh of relief and warily watched the mess he was responsible for. Scattered glass, damaged food items mixed in various flavours of minty fruity soft drinks. The scent tickled his nostrils, hard.

Stiles did not move from the spot, rocking on the heels, thinking hard. The hunger and thirst were totally overpowering all his other senses, right now. And after a second, he quickly bent down to grab the nearest can with one hand, and smashed chips pack with another hand, and moved his legs to sprint away from the place. But-

But one of his legs slipped over the smooth surface of the broken glass. Stiles felt his legs losing the ground contact and his head banged on the corner of the vending machine, hard.

The air filled with the coppery scent of the blood, his blood. Well, Stiles might be the big bad werewolf, but the impact was enough to make him pass out at least for few minutes.

“Bus…not again…” Stiles managed to mumbled, before his vision went completely black.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought, I should play around Stiles and Vending machine combo from season 2. I love them ;)  
> Ain't No Mountain High Enough - The song belongs to writers - Ashford and Simpson. Singers - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.


	6. Danger

 

“You are an Omega…and you’re not even mated?”

Stiles didn't reply. He stared blankly at the middle aged man in uniform, who was the station manager or something. He tilted his head and gazed over the metal nameplate on the desk, Mr. Finstock.

“Why the hell you are alone?” the man asked, spitting on Stiles’ face.

Stiles closed his eyes, wiping his face off with an irritated drag of fingers and pressed the ice pack on the bump on his head. He was sitting at Finstock’s desk and the man had occupied the seat beside him, rather than sitting across in his regular chair, shouting at Stiles with a shocked look on his face. The crack on Stiles’ head had healed now, but the area still felt numb, yet that could have just been a side effect of listening to the old man’s nonstop rambling. Finally, Stiles was getting a taste of his own medicine. He could understand now why people’s faces go weird while listening to him, all the time.

“…and why did you get down from the bus?”

“I uh-”

“Twice!” Stiles winced with the blow of the sound, shutting his mouth. He Didn't have an answer to that. Instead, he moved to keep the ice pack down on the table, hoping to avoid the unnecessary questions by averting his attention from Finstock’s face.

“Did you even realized how much danger you were in? How did your parents let you wander alone at his time-”

“My parents have nothing to do with this,” Stiles hissed, sharply looking at the man.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong kid,” Finstock tried to explain. “I know, We're a pretty liberal community and Omegas are treated equally to others…I’m an Omega, myself. Take my word on this,” Finstock moved his chair closer to Stiles’. He leaned forward a little, as if sharing some trade secret and Stiles had to listen. “An Omega’s scent is the most tempting thing for any unmated werewolf. Others starve for it, because it calms their wolf down. It’s an elixir to others, but…” he took a dramatic pause, till Stiles raised his eyebrows in question. Finstock’s eyes glittered on receiving the expected response. “But the scent could be a poison for the Omega, himself. It’s an open invitation for danger,” He added.

Stiles rolled his eyes, moving his fingertips along the swelling on his head as he tried to scratch off some dried blood. After all, he had just been to the Omega training camp and was not in mood for any kind of revision.

“You are lucky that you didn’t come across any wild werewolves yet, you know that?” Finstock continued. “Omegas don’t roam around alone at night. Omegas can’t fight others, they need a protector. We may be the prettiest, but we are the weakest group of our community. We Don’t -”

“Do you generally charge for these lectures, or are they free?” Stiles interrupted, with a fake smile on his face.

“Uh, oh…they're free, generally.” Finstock replied, without noticing the sarcasm behind Stiles’ query.

“Oh, that’s great. Because I don’t have any loose change to offer you for this crap,” Stiles snapped, thumping his hand on the table.

What the hell. Prettiest? Stiles would never consider himself pretty. Please. And weakest? The adult Omega was admitting that they were the weak link of the community, like it was some big accomplishment. Sure, they Weren't strongly built and they wouldn’t get official combat training to improve their skills like other ranks, but why would anyone stereotype the ranks to do certain thing? Why Omega’s grooming was mainly focused on social behaviours and maintaining the traditions and raising the children. They were essential part of the pack, but highly underestimated creatures, strength wise.

“Just tell me if I can get my luggage back,” Stiles hopped off the chair, giving it a gentle push while getting up. He stared down at Finstock, who looked quite disappointed by Stiles’ blunt reply.

“I've called the staff of your bus and they agreed to submit your luggage At the next station’s office. They've almost reached there,” the man shrugged.  Stiles didn’t want to calculate the time he had wasted in passing out. He felt like a damsel in distress. Finstock got up from the chair, as well, meeting Stiles’ eyes. “You can collect your belongings from there, that’s the most we can do for you right now. You could complete your journey for free on our next bus, if you-”

“When's the next bus?” Stiles asked, cutting the man off mid-sentence. His heartbeat needlessly accelerated with a tinge of hope.

“Oh, you just missed the last one, kid. Twice,” Finstock shrugged. “The next bus leaves at nine.”

“What-” Stiles choked. It Wasn't even four in the morning, so He'd have to wait for five hours. Nope. Stiles had already finished his daily  _waiting_  quota and he was not ready to wait any longer. “It was nice meeting you sir. Thanks for your help,” Stiles abruptly ended the conversation and shook the man’s hand.

The man tried to argue, but Stiles was already walking away, ignoring him. “Be careful. Remember what I said. Omega’s scent…elixir…poison…You could wait here,” Finstock shouted in concern at Stiles' retreating back.

“No thank you, I'll manage,” Stiles replied, looking over his shoulder before marching out of the office.

******

 

Stiles took in a deep breath. He was alone, again.

He moved his palm over his face and shook his head trying to think. He could try and take a lift from someone on the highway, or he could wait there in the waiting room, like the man had offered. No. The latter did not sound appealing, at all. He gazed over the still dark and deserted station. The morning chill felt refreshing; Stiles had hardly gotten to experience it. Normally at this time he would be wrapped in his comforter on his cosy bed. Oh, he missed it so much. A sudden gust of air brought along the dirt, which irritated his eyes.

He was rubbing them, struggling with the adamant particles which had stuck in his eye, when the hair on the back of his neck Stiffened in alert.

_Betas…two of them._

He blinked, duelling about if he should turn and face, or just ignore. The latter sounded…safe. Stiles continued his march around the station. The betas followed. Maybe they were commuters like him, or just passers-by, Stiles tried to assure his restless mind. But he casually walked in circles so he could throw a quick glance at them and check if they would still follow him.

They followed Stiles. One of them was an adult man, probably in his thirties and the other looked younger, in his early twenties. They were in worn out clothes and smelled hungry and foul, like they had been rolling over in garbage. They must be some stray werewolves who didn't belong to a pack. They also smelled curious, attracted -

Danger…hide…run.

Stiles’ wolf called out. He increased his pace. For a moment, he thought of turning back and accepting the offer from Finstock, but a sudden thought struck to his mind. Stiles quickly changed his direction to walk to a public washroom of the station instead.

He knew that his plan would work the moment he stepped in that disgusting place. His stomach lurched with the pungent smell. The bleach, urea and shit, just the way he had wanted. The stench was strong enough to overpower his Omega scent, his best chance to dodge the stalker Betas.

The sound of a dripping tap echoed in that closed room. His eyes hovered over the cracked mirror, broken sinks, dirty tiled walls, before halting at the closed door of a toilet. He strode towards it, bolting the door behind. The smell felt thick there, unbearable. Stiles held his breath and quickly scanned the confined area. There was a high window at the top, near the ceiling. Good.

Stiles shut the toilet lid with a kick and hopped on it, balancing his weight. He took a moment, carefully judging the distance to the window. After all, he had already crossed his daily quota of injuries. He gently bounced on the seat and gripped the bottom edge of the window frame, tight.

‘Come on, come on, come on,’ Stiles hoisted his body up effortlessly and climbed through the narrow passage. He landed in mud of something, which Stiles didn’t even want to imagine right now. What mattered was that he was finally outside and did not hear any footsteps following. He let out a heavy sigh, in relief.

******

“Please STOP,” Stiles screamed after the car, which just zoomed past him.

He was back on the highway, trying his luck with a lift, again. He could at least try, especially now that he had five hours to change his mind and go back to the bus station. But he felt drained after a couple of attempts. He dejectedly sat at the edge of the pavement, slumping his shoulders, lowering his head.

Stiles had dreamt of this occasion. A road trip, night adventure, freedom, but not like this, not alone. He wanted a partner in crime. He missed Scott. His mind strolled back to the childhood memories when Scott had promised him to accompany him on a world tour. Or Victor…Stiles would love to spend some time with him, roaming around the quiet streets of some unknown town under the cover of starry black sky. Oh, his night was so perfect not even a half an hour ago, when he had experienced the kick ass ride of his life. He missed his jam sessions with Maggie and the grumpy Beta. He tried to imagine the fun it could have been if Maggie would have wanted to travel to Beacon Hills or the Beta would have come back with him, to the station. It would –

The foul whiff in the air broke the chain of Stiles’ thoughts.

It was them, the Betas. Crap. And here Stiles thought he had lost them. Ultimately, the stench of public washroom was not enough to wipe off young Omega’s sweet scent. Not for a long time, or Stiles should have just kept going, rather than stupidly losing into useless dreams. He should go back, he knew. But he would have to cross them to return to the station, so he abruptly shot into a standing position, before pacing in an opposite direction.

Stiles quickly waved to couple of vehicles on the way, but no one stopped. He shoved his hopelessly shivering hands in his jean pockets. Stiles took an abrupt left turn around the corner, praying that the Betas would somehow pass by, straight. They didn’t.

Stiles marched through the alley not knowing where he was headed for. Random narrow paths, putrid and dark. Stiles couldn’t hear a single heartbeat over the hammering of his own heart. He ran around like some scared disoriented puppy, till he reached the dead-end. That was it.

Stiles took in a deep breath, forcing some fresh Oxygen to reach his brain, to think. The sound of footsteps stopped right behind him.

“Gotcha,” he heard the cunning chuckles from the Betas. Stiles swallowed, hard. He clenched his eyes, gathering all the courage and anger. There was no way he was ready to accept whatever the jerks had planned for him. He would fucking fight. He was fast and healthy; he would definitely be able to take down at least one of them. And then, probably the next one. He had watched his Alpha father in action for his whole life and had practiced his moves in the privacy of his closed room. Scott had taught him a few stunts from his training, last summer. And Stiles could do it.

He opened his eyes, which flared golden yellow. His lips turned around the corner to make room for elongating fangs. He opened his fist in a flash and freed his sharp claws. And he turned around to face them -

Stiles flinched when the thick flavour of a soothing earthy scent hit his nostrils suddenly.

_Beta…The grumpy beta…_

Stiles’ wolf muffled in solace and he lunged forward, jumping over the dumpster at the corner, startling the Betas with an unplanned act. He ran past the narrow dark alley like a madman, left, right. He lost the track, just followed the invisible tug of that musky scent.

_Please, please, please be the grumpy, scowly Beta. Please._

And he found him. The starched white shirt stood out, bright, over the black background of the dark. Stiles barged ahead like his life depended on it and watched Derek freeze into a sudden halt, before turning around, in shock.

He skidded to a halt in front of Derek and before Stiles knew, he threw his arms around the man, wrapping him in a hug, knocking the air out of Derek’s lungs.

“Jesus Christ, thank God. It’s you!” Stiles huffed out, gripping the man, tight.

Stiles just held on for a moment, calming himself down and letting his uneven breathing be soothed by the comforting aroma of  Derek’s scent, before he noticed Derek was struggling to respond. He immediately took a step back and gazed over the man’s face, confirming he wasn't dreaming, his hands still lingered on Derek’s shoulders.

“You missed the bus? Again?” Derek exclaimed, scrutinizing Stiles’ face, in surprise and confusion.

“Well, uh-” Stiles struggled for the explanations, but he noticed Derek’s gaze swept away from his face and the surprise in the eyes changed to a scowl.

“Who are they?” Derek asked, in irritation.

“Oh, Yes,” Suddenly Stiles remembered that he had some unfinished business with those stalker Betas.

A sudden wave of rage crept up through his brain. Those jerks still followed him. He stepped away from Derek, flashing his yellow eyes back at the stray Betas, taking an offensive stance.

“What do you want?” Stiles hissed at them, grinding his teeth.

They did not reply. They did not move ahead, just cautiously stared in Stiles’ direction.

“Let’s go,” the elder Beta squeezed the shoulder of his friend, halting his advance. They stared at each other for a moment, before completely striding away.

“Phew, that went…smoothly,” Stiles sighed, in relief, observing the retreating backs of the betas, taken aback a little.

“I thought, he’s not mated,” one of them mumbled.

“Did you see his eyes. They were blue. They are like...monsters.”

‘Blue?’ Stiles knitted his eyebrows, in confusion and whipped around to watch Derek, as the meaning struck to his brain.

Derek was wolfed out, flaring his electric blue eyes at the betas. He snarled at them, until they completely disappeared at the corner of an alley. His blue flares did not fade away till the foul scents of the betas got light in the air. Derek smelled pissed off, as if someone just had tried to claim his territory or something.

Stiles gaped at Derek’s protective stance...for him. He felt something melt in his tight chest. No wonder the stray betas had thought they were mates and...Monster? Those assholes were calling  _Derek_  a monster, when they were the one with all the monstrous intentions. Stiles clenched his teeth at the irony of the situation.


	7. Pattern

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,”

Stiles flailed his hands in front of Derek, as if he didn't know what to do with them, or with Derek. Derek blinked at him, taking in the whiff of relief oozing out from the boy. Stiles continued, as usual, “Oh wait, before I forget…” he shot a hand at Derek. “I’m Stiles.”

“Like I never heard  _that_  before,” Derek rolled his eyes, hoping it to be the end of the conversation. Stiles raised his eyebrows, looking at Derek expectedly, without moving his hand away. “I’m Derek,” he provided finally, taking a Stiles' warm hand into a firm handshake.

“Oh, Derek. You have no idea, Derek,  how happy  I am to see your grumpy face again,” Derek furrowed his eyebrows at Stiles. He wondered if that was a compliment or an insult. “So where are you heading Derek? I know there are still five hours for the next bus and considering what has happened just now, I don’t think we should be travelling with strangers. What do you think Derek?”

Derek felt dizzy with the frequency of his name being uttered from Stiles’ mouth, as if the boy was enjoying saying it again and again. And wait…what was up with the ‘we’ here? Were they travelling together? But Derek did not ask those questions out loud. He continued his walk and Stiles followed.

“We are roaming around the Sunnydale town. This is awesome.”

“I can’t wait to share this with Scott.”

“Victor is going to be so pissed off.”

“Do you even know where we are going?”

“I'm not going to tell my Dad.”

“I think, we should have kicked those bastards’ asses. We could have easily taken them down, y’kow?”

“What’s your favourite movie?”

“I love Lacrosse. I'm first line.”

“Do you ship-”

“We’re here,” Derek interrupted, in a tone louder than necessary, desperate to break the one way conversations floating around.  _God! Does he ever stop?_

** Moonlight. **

 

Derek read the jazzy red board of the motel. He internally debated over the authenticity of the place situated a little ways away from the highway in a squalid locality. He wondered what it had been used for. But, it would be safer here than wondering around the cheap area with a young unmated Omega.  

For a moment, Stiles’ agitated, scared face flickered in front of his eyes. His heart clenched to see Stiles like that. The incident had resurfaced some of his own dreadful memories from the past, Paige’s memory...when she struggled to escape as the rogue Alpha followed her. Derek hated the similar scent of utter terror coming from Stiles and he had wolfed out, even before he knew. He shook his head to clear away the memories. He was feeling completely exhausted after the long drive and a nonstop march. He just desperately needed to lay down somewhere, for a while.

He made a beeline to the reception counter, ignoring the unpleasant environment around.

“We want to book a room,” Derek said to the man, sitting, no, sleeping across the counter.

“Huh? Welcome to Motel Moonlight, how may I help you?” The man – Greenberg, according to the name on the nameplate - parroted, jolting awake.

Derek pursed his lips. “I said, we need a room,” he repeated.

“Oh great. For how many hours?” Greenberg asked, moving his gaze between Derek and Stiles, eyes glittering in a suggestive manner, lips twitching up at the corner and…Derek suddenly realized  _what_  the man was on about. There were no more doubts left in Derek’s mind about the usage of this place. It was a perfect place to enjoy couple of steamy-hot hours, in case you were tired of the nonstop boring travelling.

“Don’t act smart. Just book a room for the night,” Derek hissed at the man.

“Whoa, wait. Why waste money on a day booking, when we only need it for a few hours?” Stiles butted in leaning on the counter, looking at Derek as if he was doing something really stupid.

“Stiles, you don’t understand what he is trying to say -”

“Hold on big guy, let me handle this. I know you have lots of money in your thick wallet,” He held out a palm in front of Derek’s chest, making him stop talking. Then he turned to look at Greenberg. “We will take a room on hourly basis.” He confirmed.

“How many hours?” Greenberg inquired, smirking.

“Derek? Umm...four hours?” Stiles asked Derek, doing some mental calculations. Derek had absolutely no idea what to reply. He just hated the way Greenberg was enjoying the moment so much. “Five hours? That should be enough right?”

Derek shrugged. He felt his cheeks burning.

“Okay, five hours it is..” Stiles said confidently thumping his hand on the counter, as if he had achieved something big. He turned and winked at Derek, which made the situation even worse.

“Enjoy…sir,” Greenberg taunted, while handing over the receipt and Derek flashed his blue eyes at him, just to wipe that teasing toothy grin off of his face. It worked.

******

 

They settled into the room, which was surprisingly clean.

“Oh God,” Stiles moaned, sprawling over the double bed, taking a comfortable position. Derek’s gaze hovered over the tiny room, which had no furniture other than the double bed and a corner table. Great. “You can claim your half of the bed. I don’t bite,” Stiles said, like he had noticed Derek’s dilemma.

Derek stared into Stiles’ eyes for a moment. Did he even understand what he smelled like to Derek? Or how risky it was for him to rely on some stranger? Because that’s all Derek was. A stranger.

“Come on, you paid for this room. Unless you want me to sleep on the floor or something,” Stiles teased, scooting away at one side of the bed. Derek ducked his head and pretended to read the room receipt from his hands, dumping the bag on the floor. He sat on the bed beside Stiles and relaxed his sore feet on the soft surface. It felt good.

The room filled with unexpected silence, for a few moments.

“You know what, I was thinking about the sequence of tonight’s events,” Stiles started, with eyes fixed at the ceiling. “It’s a pattern,” he glanced at Derek with a rare expression of seriousness.

“Huh?”

“Look, three times I have missed the bus tonight,” Stiles raised his body into a sitting position, resting it against the headboard, folding his legs. His amber eyes sparkled with excitement, now focused on Derek. “And y’know what was common in that?”

Derek did not answer, just raised his eyebrows. Stiles would answer anyway, Derek knew.

“It’s you,” Stiles declared, pointing Both his hands in Derek’s direction, like that was the pretty obvious thing to guess and entered into some detective investigation zone. “The first time I missed it and you were sitting right in my seat. The second time you were the reason for it. And the third one...actually, it was stupid to get down from the bus to get a coke, but look, here I am...with you again. One’s an incident. Two’s a coincidence. Three’s a pattern. There’s some connection between us, I'm telling you man.”

Of course, Derek didn’t agree with this logic. A pattern? They have a pattern now. Great.

“Yeah, but don’t get me wrong, okay?” Stiles continued. “I’m not trying to hit on you or anything. I'm already involved.”

“I'm aware,” Derek interrupted. He did not want to hear Stiles’ love story, if he had the option. He took out his wallet to shove the room receipt inside, but his hands froze at the sight of the photo peeking out of its last pocket. It was Jennifer.

His heart twisted with a sudden ache. This photo should not have any place in Derek’s wallet…in his life. He swallowed the thick lump in his throat and dragged the photo out to dump it on the corner table.

“What’s that?” Before Derek could blink, Stiles had lunged across Derek’s body, to snatch the photo from the table. Hello? Derek did not know what to do with this boy. Stiles didn’t seem to have any sense of privacy or personal space and above all, what surprised Derek most was that it didn't bother him that much, especially since it should have.

“Is she your girlfriend?”

Derek stared at him.

“Oh, come on. Don’t be such a sourwolf, I shared my entire life history with you. Why can’t you-”

“Ex-girlfriend,” Derek cut him off mid-sentence to stop his whine. Suddenly he realised that he hadn’t talked about it with anyone. Not even with Laura and it had been burning his insides piece by piece, with each passing second.

“Oh, I get it now. You’re sad, because she dumped you?”

“Life has dumped me,” Derek muttered, before he could stop himself.

“Huh?” Stiles searched Derek’s face, as if trying to gaze through his soul. Derek averted his eyes back to the photo in Stiles’ hand, feeling uncomfortable. “Anyways,” Stiles heaved the picture at Derek’s face. “Look at her. This is the girl who ditched you right?” He jumped off the bed, tugging at Derek’s elbow, forcing him to stand. He grabbed Derek’s hand and shoved the photo into it. “Flush her,” he added.

“What?” Derek scrunched his eyebrows in disbelief, as if he had heard something wrong.

“Yep, tear the photo into pieces and just flush her from your life.”

Derek stared at Stiles, without moving a muscle.

“God, just go,” Stiles gave a little push to Derek’s arm making him go towards the washroom.

Derek cleared the distance in a daze. What the hell? Was he really following the childish instructions from a stupid boy now? Seriously? But he didn’t turn back.

He warily watched the commode for a few moments, before raising his hand to hold the photo at eyelevel.

And ripped it once, twice, thrice…six times. For the six months they had spent together. When Derek had trusted her and she might have just laughed out loud at Derek’s foolishness behind his back, enjoying every single moment of it with her pack. She had humiliated him and his family…his pack.

He dumped the pieces into a commode and pressed the flush. He watched it, until the last piece swirled with the water and drained into the gutter.

“What?” Stiles asked, marching a few steps towards Derek, who was just sliding out of the washroom door.

“I can’t believe I did that,” Derek whispered, meeting Stiles’ anxious eyes. “That was the stupidest thing I have ever done.”

“And?”

“I can’t believe…that I actually felt good about it,” Derek added, huffing out a choked breath.

“There you go. You’re the man.” Stiles cheered in excitement, patting Derek on the back.

And Derek felt his heart go warm seeing someone else feeling happy…for him, without having any particular motive behind it. Derek took a deep breath to swallow the sweet aroma of pure delight coming from Stiles.

 


	8. Dreams

 

 

“…ream Derek?”

Derek jerked awake from a quick nap. He had been sleeping with his head hanging from one side of the headboard, in a sitting position. Stiles’ soft voice felt like the melody of a song. Stiles’ heartbeats helped to soothe the jittery nerves which had prickled with Jennifer’s memory and Derek didn’t even realise when he had drifted into the hazy clouds of sleep while breathing in Stiles’ minty sweet aroma.

Stiles was somehow still awake and, of course, still talking.

From what Derek remembered before surrendering to inescapable sleep, Stiles had talked about his Alpha father, Mr. Stilinski, who had spent quite a lonely life after the death of Stiles’ mother – his soulmate, until he met Mrs. McCall, an Omega. Stiles talked about how his life had changed when the McCall pack easily assimilated into the Stilinski pack after their marriage. Stiles talked about Melissa’s dexterous cooking skills and Scott – his Alpha friend come brother, for at least half an hour. Derek remembered occasional mentions of Scott’s girlfriend, Kira - a sweet, bubbly, clumsy Omega – from the Yukimura pack. If  _Stiles_  was referring to  her as clumsy, then that had to be a thing.

Overall, Stiles’ pack was the typical combination of Alpha-Omega pairs. The match which had been considered  _perfect_  to yield high quality offspring, with Alpha’s first-rate, predominant, sturdy genes blended into subtle, comforting that of Omega’s. Many orthodox packs would prefer to go for that combination, especially for  mating.

Betas were the most neglected among the three and had been considered as a secondary rank. In most cases, they were pack because they were family (and couldn’t be kicked out). They were needed to increase the pack number and strength (too many Alphas would be an invitation to intra-pack conflicts for the dominance and Omegas were physically weak). They were important if a sole Alpha wanted to pass the Alpha genes to a capable pack Beta, rather than searching for a different Alpha. Like in Derek’s case, his father had passed the Hale legacy to Laura…and not to Derek. No. Derek did not want to drift into that direction. Never. Was he just a damaged soul to his own father?… _Stop thinking. Period._

Stiles’ pack, though, definitely seemed like one of those traditional packs which proudly followed the predefined societal rules. Derek wondered how Stiles’ love story would fit into the pack dynamics when the love of his life was apparently a Beta. Victor was a beta. No wonder, the boy was planning on running away from his home to get marked secretly.

“What’s your dream Derek?” Stiles voice was louder than normal, maybe he had asked the question before and Derek hadn’t replied.

“I don’t have a dream,” ... _because it ends up a nightmare_  - Derek’s lips twitched to complete that sentence, but he didn’t.

“No way, everyone has a dream,” Stiles leaned forward to rest his forearm over the pillow on his lap. He gazed at Derek’s face curiously. “How old are you? Twenty five…six?”

“Twenty two.”

“God, you look so…old,” Stiles said in disbelief. His gaze left Derek’s face and flickered over the man’s broad shoulders, muscular arms and chest and down. Stiles quickly looked back at Derek’s face with a little jolt; realising he was staring at the wrong places for a wrong time. “Come on, You've definitely got to have a dream,” Stiles covered up with his usual jabber. “Well, I’ll share mine first, maybe you won’t feel so shy then.”

 _Shy?_  Derek rolled his eyes.

“My dream is to start a training institute for teenagers,” Stiles started, eyes dreamily focused somewhere outside the window. “All under the same roof. An institute where a werewolf would choose a course of his interest. No bias. No ranking.”

Derek stared into Stiles’ unfocused amber eyes, in astonishment. This was not some stupid, chatty, clumsy teen Omega he had accompanied for a few hours now. This boy had brains. Derek was  _impressed_. Stiles’ dream was beautiful and noble.

“Victor is helping me with it,” Stiles continued with a soft fond smile on his face, looking at Derek. “Last year in the training camp, we tried to do a survey and a campaign on this, which was apparently trashed by those jerks twin Omegas…Ethan and Aidan...y’know from the Demon pack?”

Yes. Derek knew about the Demon pack. Pack of three Alphas. Deucalion, Kali and Ennis. Two years back, two of them had forcefully mated to twin Omegas of the Moore pack. Alpha Moore had come to Derek’s father to ask for support in a case against them. The Demon pack was ruthless and powerful. But apparently, the Omega’s were of age when they had been claimed and had accepted the claim bite, so the case had to be dismissed. After all, punishing the two evil Alphas would be as good as punishing your Omegas, after the claim bite.

And from what Derek had just heard from Stiles, those Omegas seemed like they had been perfectly suited to the Demon pack, living up  to the pack’s reputation of being assholes.

“Well, I kicked the ass of one of them,” Stiles smirked at Derek. “I can’t be exactly sure which one, y’know, twins and all, but it was fun and…a major setback. I got suspended from the camp and the organisers called Dad, so my dream is kind of on hold currently,” Stiles huffed out a sigh and shrugged, shaking off the tinge of sadness. “Plus, money. That’s the main concern. I guess, I’ll have to hold on for a while, until I get a little settled in life and earn some money first maybe,” Stiles was back in the cheerful mood. “I know there are a few organizations in other states, but not here. It’s a tough task here, especially with packs like the Alpha pack. They just want to retain the liberties given only to the Alphas and don’t want to think about other ranks. I hope someone from here would  build up more on this thought…I would love to work for them, for free,” he added, candidly.

Derek was amazed. The boy had got a big heart, to give something back to the society. He stared at Stiles, unblinking.

“Now come on,” Stiles shouted in excitement and Derek winched back to reality. “Tell me yours,” He expectantly looked at Derek.

“I uh-“ Derek hesitated, not sure what to share and how to share, because he had never done anything like that with a… stranger.

Stiles might have smelled the uncertainty into the air, because he quickly continued for Derek’s assistance. “An aspiration. Like, what you want to achieve this year? You look like some big-shot. A business plan, maybe. Don’t tell me you don’t have a plan. You gotta-”

“Okay. Okay. I have a plan,” Derek blurted out, to halt Stiles and the Omega’s lips curved into a smug smile, like he had achieved his plan to trick Derek into sharing.

“I wanted to lead,” Derek muttered randomly, looking straight into Stiles’ eyes, judging his reaction, carefully, if there were any hints of mockery or a smell of disgust. After all, Derek was just a Beta. A damaged, secondary ranked Beta, who would hardly ever get a chance to lead anything. But he had given his life to the Hale enterprise and for past few years, he had sweated hard to design its future, along with his father. It was his dream…and his father’s. Laura was good. Of course. But she was hardly involved in the company’s transactions and was more interested in pursuing her architecture career.

Derek had strong suspicions that a few of the committee members were in the process of snatching away the Hale Enterprise from the Hales, before Laura could get acquainted with the business. Bottom line, he wanted to be upfront in the battle, wanted to fight for the leading position of the company - a position of the chairperson. Derek was a fair contender for his father’s seat, maybe the most deserving one. But that dream had shattered yesterday, like some fragile glass, when they did not even allow him to apply for the post.

“Wanted? No dream is ever a  _past tense_ , Derek,” Stiles proclaimed, meeting Derek’s eyes with an intense look. He might have moved a little closer, but Derek couldn’t be sure. “You just have to keep craving for it. And if you have wished it strong enough, from the bottom of your heart…” Stiles paused, digging holes into Derek’s eyes. “You will get what you want. Believe me.”

For a few moments, they did not speak. They did not break eye contact.

Derek was the one to react first. He swayed his eyes away, blinking. What the hell? For a crazy little moment, Derek actually believed Stiles. Derek’s heart thudded frantically against his ribcage.

“Whoa, did I just scare you or something,” Stiles moved to sit on his knees, sliding the pillow off of his body. “I know, that got a little serious. Sorry. No more philosophy talks,” Stiles pretended to zip his mouth moving two fingers over his lips.

Derek growled at Stiles for making him feel like a five year old.

“Oh, cheer up grumpy cat,” Stiles teased Derek fondly. “And could you lend me your phone?  Y’know, since mine’s broken and everything. I should call my dad. He must be going crazy by now.”

“Uh, I don’t have a cell phone,” Derek provided, the sound of it felt wrong to Derek’s own ears, he was a fucking businessman.

“You don’t have a cell phone?” Stiles’ exclaimed, looking at Derek like he had grown a horn on his head.

“Well, I kind of broke mine, too.”

“Ohh…” Stiles’ pink lips rounded into a perfect ‘o’, in understanding, like breaking a phone was just another normal routine. Then his relaxed features suddenly changed to serious. “I’ll reach home in a few hours, Derek, but what about you?” Stiles asked, in concern. “Don’t you need to call someone? There must be someone waiting for you. Don’t make them suffer along with you.”

Derek shuddered with a sudden realization that  Stiles had just shown him the other side of the coin. Derek was so absorbed into self loathing that he almost forgot that Laura would be worried to death for him. He gazed at the boy, who was nervously biting on his lips; worrying that he might have crossed some line .

“We can buy a phone from the stores here,” Derek nodded at Stiles and tense lines on the boy’s forehead immediately smoothed out.

******

 

Derek booked two tickets from the ticket counter of the Sunnydale bus station, while Stiles was buying a cell phone for Derek from the shop around the corner. It was almost ten in the morning and the bus was leaving in a few minutes, for Beacon Hills.

Apparently, Derek had decided to accompany Stiles. The Omega looked so prone to danger. In a single night, he had already missed his bus three times, had been injured twice and had almost got attacked by stray werewolves. And it wasn’t like Derek had anything else to do. He just wanted to clear his mind and  _that_  plan had been going pretty well with Stiles around.

Derek moved towards the bus queue, looking around for Stiles. His smell hit Derek’s nose, before he could locate the red plaid shirt. The scent had a weird mixture of nervousness, curiosity, humour. Derek furrowed his eyebrows in the Stiles’ direction. Omega’s face was vibrating with complete glee.

“Here,” Stiles shoved the box into Derek’s hands. It was nicely wrapped in orange paper, with a red ribbon around it. Derek suspiciously watched the box as if it was some bomb.

“Oh, the gift wrapping was free with the cell phone,” Stiles explained, noticing the uncertainty on the Derek’s face.

Derek mercilessly ripped the wrapping with a slash of his index finger’s claw. He looked at the device in the box and froze.

“You bought me a  _pink_  cell phone!”

Derek bellowed, snarling at the boy, who broke into a hysterical laughter at the outburst from Derek.

 

_Asshole..._

 


	9. A first hint, a first step

 

Derek was back to the wonderland of bus transportation.

It was even worse in the morning, in comparison to the odd hours of the last night. The bus was already packed, but the staff allowed random passengers from the queue who shamelessly claimed the reserved seats. The prior reservations looked useless and everything in the bus was nothing but sheer chaos. The moment Derek stepped inside the bus, his ears buzzed with the heated arguments between the commuters and he felt dizzy, so ready to flee from that place.

“Come on,” Stiles grabbed Derek’s hand and tugged him inside, before Derek could act on instincts.

Stiles skilfully made his way through the standing commuters and luggage, yanking lightly at Derek’s hand. He hardly seemed to be bothered by brushing bodies of strangers or their stench. For Derek, though, the experience was quite an  _adventurous_ one.

Derek bumped into a few passengers and stumbled over bags trying to keep up with Stiles. He groaned in frustration and hissed at a few, who he thought, purposely trying for the contact. Stiles looked over his shoulders and chuckled at him. Derek growled more. After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached their assigned seats, which were already taken. Great.

“But we reserved these seats,” the old lady pleaded to the brat Omegas occupying her seats at the back. Derek watched as the Omegas did not budge. They continued their chatter, completely ignoring the elderly couple.

“You heard the lady,” Derek interrupted them in a sharp tone, demanding the attention. He moved towards the back seat to get a closer look, withdrawing his hand from Stiles’ grip.

“This bus works on a  first-come, first-serve basis. These seats are ours now. If they want a seat, they can stand in the queue and take next bus,” one of the Omegas retaliated. Derek had their undivided attention now. Those kids didn’t have a courtesy towards the old couple. Derek glared at them, trying to come up with a persuasive (threatening) reply. He could feel his temper rising.

“Not today buddy,” Stiles butted into the conversation, before Derek could wolf out on them. “It’s reservation special day today, honey. Bad luck. So get your asses off of those seats, right now!” Stiles barked, leaning forward to make his point more clear.

The Omegas got up, reluctantly shifting away from the seats, cursing at Stiles. They weren’t scared, but they knew they were wrong and one strong voice of protest was enough to break their stubbornness.

“Thank you,” Stiles snapped and turned towards the two other werewolves occupying his seats. “Do you want to hear it in Spanish?” he asked them, in a sardonic tone. The two occupants warily looked at him.

“Get up,” Stiles snarled, changing his tone a little nasal, and in a beat their seats were empty.

The old couple looked at Stiles with warm eyes, relieved and grateful. Derek felt an inexplicable contentment when a light wave of gratitude tickled his nostrils. Stiles was good. He was good at handling people and talking and, of course, lying. How could he lie so causally? Derek made a mental note to find out more about that, later.

“You did a good job,” Derek mumbled, while settling down beside Stiles. He was actually relieved that he wouldn’t have to complete his journey standing in that packed bus.

“You too, Derek,” Stiles replied in soft voice.

Derek jerked his head to look at Stiles, scrunching his eyebrows in confusion. Stiles gave him a steady stare and continued, “It was nice of you to fight for that couple’s seat and not for your own first,” he added, twitching his lips into a fond smile.

Derek nodded, carefully turning his head away. He was not prepared to handle such subtle compliments and this new scent coming from Stiles. It took him a second to recognize it: adoration. For him.

Derek was indeed thankful that they both were tired and sleep deprived and quickly surrendered to their drooping eyes, without any further conversation.

 

******

 

Derek jolted awake when the bus jerked over a speed breaker.

The first thing he noticed was a bunch of dark brown hairs that threatening to stick to his mouth, which he had opened into a yawn.

He winced back shutting his mouth in reflex, now feeling a wet sticky patch over his left shoulder.

Stiles was pressed against Derek’s left side, leaning his head comfortably on Derek’s shoulder. He was snoring lightly, with his mouth open, drooling like a child over Derek’s white shirt. Great.

Derek shrugged his shoulders in a failed attempt to wake the boy up. Stiles stirred in his sleep, a little, rubbed his nose on Derek’s arm before settling into an original position, again. Derek rolled his eyes making an exasperated sound, but before he could think other ways to wake Stiles, his neck prickled against the weight of heavy stares from around.

Derek raised his eyebrows and glanced at the surrounding crowd. The bus was still full, with an Alpha and a bunch of betas swarmed against his seat. He tried to locate the focus of their hungry glares, which was apparently…Stiles.

Derek felt a sudden flash of fury crept up through his spine bursting his brain out. He clenched his hands into a fist, desperately trying to concentrate on the pain when his elongated claws cut into the soft flesh of his palms. His entire body twitched to jump on those creeps to pluck their eyes out, with his bare hands.

Derek noticed as the Alpha’s attention finally switched towards him, as if he had read Derek’s mind and without a second thought, Derek growled…at the _Alpha_.

The Alpha gave him a distasteful look, like he had been interrupted from his favourite pastime, eyes gradually flickering to red. Derek let out a deep rumble in response.

“Wha…what’s wrong Derek?” Stiles woke up, flailing his limbs in Derek’s direction. He must have heard the vibrations of Derek’s chest. His voice came hoarse, heavy with sleep and laced with confusion.

Derek did not answer. He did not shift his gaze, holding it evenly to the Alpha’s crimson eyes, challenging him.

“Fuck,” Stiles gasped loudly, shifting in his seat to somehow grab Derek’s attention. “Look at me Derek. Why you’re so pissed off?” he gripped at Derek’s arm and tugged, until the man detached his stare from the Alpha and turned mechanically to look at him instead.

Derek winced, suddenly noticing the pair of mad red eyes were now replaced with worried amber ones. He felt his temper washing away, like someone had poured an ice bucket over his head. He let out a choked breath that he did not know he had been holding so long and snatched his gaze away to look anywhere, but at Stiles.

What the hell? What was he doing? Derek was feeling protective of this particular Omega; after all, they had spent quite some time together…like twelve hours…almost. Okay. And Stiles had actually helped him in many stupid but wonderful ways to fix his agitated mind, a little. But Derek was fucking challenging the Alpha, like Stiles was his… _his_.

Derek felt terrified thinking about the scents he must be oozing out now for the world to notice, for Stiles to notice. His heart frantically thudded against his ribcage, on the verge of bursting out. What was happening to him? He felt like he had no control over the way he was reacting or feeling. This was bizarre.

“Whoa calm down buddy, we’re fine. The Alpha’s cool. No fights. Right?” Stiles muttered in a soothing voice, directing the last word at the Alpha, who had returned to his human form, looking in control.

The Alpha scanned between Stiles and Derek and his lips twirled in a smug smile. “Yes, we are fine,” he agreed, staring at Derek like they had reached to a mutual settlement over their mute fight.

Derek raised his head to acknowledge the Alpha’s response with a nod and dropped back lifelessly into his seat, ignoring the dumbfounded looks Stiles was throwing at him.

“What was that?” Stiles asked, squinting his eyes at Derek.

“Nothing,” Derek huffed out in reply, stretching his sore leg muscles into a relaxed position. He was relieved that they would be reaching a next station soon, where he could just get the hell away from all those uncanny glares still directed at him and Stiles.

Nope.

 

******

 

Derek winced, as the sudden thunder rumbled overhead. He glanced up at the sky which started to engulf by black swirling clouds which had looked like a white canvas a few minutes ago. Was it going to rain now?

Before he could finish that thought, the metal roof of the station office rattled as the rain poured down upon it. A faint smile enveloped Derek’s lips. He liked rain - the fresh earthy scent of the grounds matched to his own, the wet covers of green grass which felt soothing to the eyes, the steady downpour which sounded more like dancing feet, hypnotic. He liked the white curtain of water stream which washed away every pungent scent that lingered in the air making it pleasant to gulp in.

Derek curiously watched the puddle of water which was getting poked by heavy droplets. He almost forgot that he was waiting there for Stiles, who had gone to collect his luggage from the office.

“I got it!” A happy cry from Stiles broke Derek’s chain of thought. He strained his neck to look over the shoulder at Stiles. The boy slid off  the office door clutching his bags tight. He had a grin that spread from ear to ear, like a child who had just received his favourite flavour of ice cream.

“Thank God everything’s in place. I thought, I’m never going to see my Batman shorts again,” Stiles squeezed his bags closed to his chest, scenting them in relief.

 _What? Batman uh…whatever_ , Derek was so not going to start thinking in that direction.

“Let’s go,” he crossed Derek, “Come on, I don’t want to miss the bus again,” he added, leading the way out.

“We’re not going back on that bus,” Derek blurted out, in full protest.

“What!” Stiles exclaimed, spinning around so wildly that he almost tumbled over his own feet.

“I’m hiring a car.” Derek stated.

“What the -” Stiles watched Derek with wide eyes. He dropped his bag on the floor in haste to react. Stiles talked with full body - flailing limbs, whipping neck, quirking eyebrows, everything so…moving. “Why?” he huffed out, marching towards Derek.

“Because -” Derek paused, thinking about a proper way to put the things forward in a non-awkward way - _because Derek was not able to withstand a single lurking gaze directed at Stiles...because Derek was not in the mood of testing his self-control skills in that damn packed bus...because Derek was not sure how he would react, if something goes wrong...because Derek had no clue why he was acting so weird around Stiles._

Derek shut his mouth without uttering a word. He clenched his jaws and stared at Stiles.

“Oh come on,” Stiles rolled his eyes, making an exasperated sound. He stopped right in front of Derek. “I know why you almost wolfed out in front of that fucking Alpha,” he whispered, searching into Derek’s green eyes.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about me. This is what I face every other day, for a year now. Yummy raw unmated Omega…right? That’s what you guys call us, right?”

“No!” Derek huffed, feeling offended and hurt that Stiles had thought that Derek could think so low about him. “I would never…My sister was an Omega,” he blurted out as if that would somehow clarify Stiles’ doubts about him.

Cora would have been of Stiles’ age and she was Derek’s precious little princess and he would never think so insolently about any Omega, ever. He fucking missed her. His heart clenched in his chest. The memories of fire started overpowering his mind. God! Why things had gone so suddenly wrong?

“Whoa, h…hold on,” Stiles stuttered, shaking his head like he was trying to get a grip over what he had just said. “I didn’t mean _you_ Derek. I trust you,” he declared, with a rare sincere look in his eyes and stared right back at Derek.

Derek felt a knot loosen in his chest on that confession. He felt relieved and surprised. How Stiles would just _trust_ someone after hardly knowing them for not even for a half day.

“Derek, you don’t have to do this for me-“

“Not for you,” Derek cut him in the mid-sentence, coming back to his full senses. “Well, this is my first bus ride and I don’t think I’m enjoying it much. I seriously have no idea, what I’ll do if I go back there again. I’m doing this for me. Believe me.”

Stiles blinked at him, dumbfounded. He scrunched his eyebrows losing into a deep thought, “I guess, this is longest you have spoken since we met,” his lips curved into a smug smile, eyes glittering teasingly.

Derek rolled his eyes. _Could this boy ever remain serious for a whole minute?_

“Okay big guy. So, car it is then,” he said, lightly clapping on Derek’s arm.

******

 

“Where the fuck you are Derek?”

Laura’s voice rang in Derek’s ears, almost cutting through the eardrums. In a reflex, he jerked his pink phone away to lessen the effect.

“And what the hell is this number? You got a new phone or something?” Stiles chuckled somewhere in the front, with inexplicable pleasure. Derek scowled at him and turned his back to him, as if that would help.

“I, uh-“

“Please Derek, just come back. I know what Jennifer and her pack did to you. I was worried for you yesterday after the meeting and I called her and that bitch…But they got what they deserved.”

“Wh-what? What did you do?” Derek stammered. His heart raced with the boiling concern for his sister.

“I challenged her Alpha mother. Jennifer was just her puppet after all,” Derek could hear the gritting sound of Laura’s teeth which she must have grinded with the memory.

“Laura!” Derek exclaimed, his voice cracked, feeling terrified now.

“Don’t worry Der. I made that piss submit to me. I won. They won't mess with Hales now...or with anyone else,” Laura’s voice was still laced with anger. “And that pussy Jennifer cried for mercy at my feet. But this is not the news Derek. I got something more important to share with you.”

There was a pause.

Derek was just recovering from the overwhelming things that Laura had done for him. His sister. His Alpha. Jenifer was a closed chapter for him. He wished he could just wipe off the piercing heart ache the memory was causing him. Laura's actions helped him to give it a better closure.

“I withdrew my nomination,” Laura whispered, breaking the silence.

“What? Why would you do that!” Derek shouted from the pit of his stomach. He felt his hand shivering in a panic. NO. This was not happening. He shook his head twitching his ears, hoping that he might have heard something wrong or Laura might have just slipped her tongue.

“Because, that’s the only way they agreed to take _you_ in, Derek,” She said slowly and steadily, making every word of that sentence loud and clear.

“No,” Derek choked. “I don’t…you shouldn’t…” Derek did not know how to complete that sentence. So many emotions flooded right at his brains at the same time.

“Oh, don’t react like I am some sort of saint,” Laura continued, knowing that her brother would never be able to complete his sentence. “I don’t want to be a fucking chairperson. I want to pursue my architecture career.”

“But-“

“Derek, we all know that I am bad at this. I don’t stand a chance,” she stated matter of factly, “And we all know how good you are,” she added, cautiously.

Derek swallowed. His mouth suddenly felt dry. He tried to control hammering of his heart, which he knew Laura would be able to catch even over the phone line.

“This is your dream Derek. Don’t give up on it. I know you are the only deserving candidate for that post...just come back home and we'll make it happen, okay?” Laura’s soft voice felt soothing to his ears. Her words felt so calming and familiar, like he had recently heard them before.

Yes. Stiles had been talking about dreams last night.

_‘If you have wished it strong enough, from the bottom of your heart, you will get what you want.’_

Stiles’ voice echoed in his ears.

Derek was finally getting the chance to pursue his dream. He could now take a first step towards his dream. He turned back, desperately searching for the sight of the Omega -the pale skinned, lanky, chatty, stupid Omega.

Derek’s heart flipped when his gaze finally landed on Stiles, who was beaming at him for some reason. He might have just heard the conversation.

“Okay Derek?” Laura’s voice broke his thoughts which were dangerously on the verge of going haywire.

“Okay,” Derek confirmed after a beat, returning a smile back at Stiles.

 


	10. The moment. The Legend.

 

Derek focused his eyes on the wet moving road ahead,  as the wipers cleared the wall of water in a steady rhythm.

He had somehow managed to convince Laura to give him a day to come home. He was planning to drop Stiles off and drive around to clear his mind a little more, before he could put on his business shoes.

Stiles’ nonstop chatter felt like  soft music in the background. Derek was used to it now, not that Stiles was expecting any answers back, most of the time the jabber was some random comments on community politics, his life, his pack, and Derek.

“Y’know what? You should smile more, rather than scowling all the time,” Stiles commented in a sincere tone, without any hint of pun. Derek knew Stiles was watching him drive so he didn’t turn to look at him. Stiles continued. “Your smile is like…like sunshine,” Stiles added quickly, smiling, as if he had found a perfect word to describe, and Derek could feel the smell of adoration growing thick in the packed air of the car.

Oh God! This was too much to handle. Derek’s concentration drifted from the road and he focused it on not to give away much - feelings, scent, heartbeat - too many things to regulate in a single moment, while racing down a car in a pouring rain. He just wished he knew how to cover up for these personal emotions, or knew how to lie like Stiles.

“How can you lie so fluently?” Derek blurted his mind out, totally out of context.

“What? I’m not lying,” Stiles retorted. His scent spiked with protest. “Have you seen your face in the mirror when you smile?”

“No! not that,” Derek said in haste, before Stiles could utter a word further to make Derek’s situation even worse. “In general I meant. You’re really good at this. How do you manage?”

“Oh that?” Stiles mumbled with understanding. Derek was actually relieved that he had somehow managed the diversion from the previous topic.

“It’s Scott,” Stiles slumped back in a seat and continued after a beat. “He’s shared a few tricks of his Alpha training to me.”

Scott McCall – Stiles’ best friend and a brother – Derek remembered. He seemed like a good kid to share those precious Alpha secrets with Stiles. No wonder Stiles used his name after every three sentence. They seemed close.

Derek knew that the advance skills were the part of young Alpha training program. After all, they were the leaders. They needed to control the pack, manipulate the situations in needy times. And technically, couldn’t be an open book all the time.

“I practiced with Scott this summer and got it pretty quick. I’m just natural with this stuff, I guess,” Stiles shrugged like he was pleased with himself. Derek knew, even without looking at him, that the boy must have that smug smile on his face. That was true.

“You want to try?” Stiles suddenly jumped forward like the idea had intrigued him so much.

“I uh-“

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” he shook Derek’s arm, insisting, and Derek had to tighten his grip on a steering wheel not to lose the control.

“Okay, okay” Derek agreed, a little quickly. After all, he actually wanted to learn that.

And then, for a full fifteen minutes, Stiles explained the technical details of the act to Derek. There were so many specifics that Derek  struggled to absorb everything at once.

“Let’s practice” Stiles concluded his session, rubbing his hands. He was certainly enjoying this. “Q and A round. I’ll ask questions and you have to lie, okay? I’m gonna check your heartbeat. It’s easier than controlling your wolf…just remember to lie,” he reminded Derek one more time.

Derek rolled his eyes. Lie. He could do it. He braced himself for the first question from Stiles.

Stiles cleared his throat and shot at Derek, “What’s your favourite dessert?”

Like Stiles had explained, Derek dragged in a gulp of air, tried to relax, clearing his mind, “Umm…”

“No thinking. Quickly. Lie,” Stiles shouted, pointing his hands at Derek like that would somehow help him to make Derek lie. “Next…What was your favourite subject in school?”

“Hist…Chemistry.”

“You really suck at this, man.”

Derek grunted, gripping the wheel tight, ready to snap it into two in anxiety. “I can’t just lie without thinking,” he said, in irritated voice.

“That’s the trick. You can’t lie, if you think,” Stiles explained, creasing his eyebrows at Derek like he had missed the whole point. “Buckle up now. Next question…How old are you?”

“Thirty five.”

Stiles snorted loudly, “I doubt that’s a lie.”

Derek growled.

“Okay, okay. Are you married?”

“Yes.”

“How many kids you have?”

“Four. Urgh…Your questions are kind of stupid, you know that, right?” Derek protested.

“Yes, I know that,” Stiles said, in a plain tone. “What’s your favourite colour?” he continued, ignoring Derek’s disapproval.

“Pink.”

“Good. You’re getting there, slow-ly,” Stiles nodded in appreciation, smiling. “Next…Forest or Ocean?”

“Ocean.”

“Do you like pizza?”

“Yes, I love pizza.”

“Do you love the Camaro?”

“No.”

“Do you love your sister?”

“No.”

“Do you love me?”

“Wha-” Derek hit the brakes, hard.

The car staggered to a halt in the middle of the road, making a screeching sound. Luckily, there were no more vehicles following them for half a mile on that short cut route.

Derek looked at Stiles, furrowing his eyebrows, “What kind of question is that?” he bellowed.

Stiles struggled to steady his body from the sudden jolt. He looked at Derek with matching frustration, “May be the kind that just popped into my head. I’m trying okay? Questions are hard. It’s a game, Derek. You should challenge yourself-”

“I’m not answering that,” Derek said in a firm tone.

“Okay? I know that was a little…weird. I’ll change the question. Do you like me?”

“I’m not answering that either,” Derek pursed his lips tight and started the engine with a jerk. He let it rumble loudly for a few moments, more than required; making his point clear that he was _done_ with the game.

“You are no fun Derek, you know that?” Stiles muttered pouting, when the car settled back on the road.

“Yes. I know that,” Derek said bluntly, pinning his eyes ahead.

Derek knew that he had overreacted to the question, but you couldn’t blame the man if he was not prepared. Not when he was already having a tough time controlling and understanding his own emotions. Stiles, though, looked _okay_ , like he was actually just playing the game.

Good.

******

They stopped to grab sandwiches from the local diner when Stiles’ stomach grumbled for the fourth time. It reminded Derek that he hadn’t eaten anything since last night either.

Derek grabbed the take-away bags from the counter and made his way out. Stiles tagged along at his side. Derek stopped at the gate watching, the drizzling rain became a downpour. For a moment, he hesitated to decide if they should wait there or run towards the car. But it didn’t seem like it would stop pouring anytime soon, so he decided to go with the later.

“Let’s go,” Derek huffed at Stiles, before making a sprint towards the car. He hunched forward and tried to cover the parcels with his upper body. Luckily, they had parked the car close by. He could hear Stiles’ sneakers squelched through the slushy mud behind. In a beat, Derek was at the car door.

Derek got in and dumped the parcels on the front seat. He took a moment to settle down behind the wheel, panting. His clothes felt damp on the skin, even though he tried his best to be quick. He jerked his neck around when Stiles did not follow in immediately. Derek was about to barge out again, before his gaze landed on Stiles.

The boy was standing in the pouring rain with his hands out, parallel to the ground. His long neck was stretched to lift his face towards the sky; eyes squeezed shut as rain drops kissed his bare skin. His clothes were drenched and clanged to his lean body accentuating a few muscles of the arms, a broad shoulder and tight abs. His smell radiated the usual fresh minty sweetness, which was now laced with cheerful vibes, making it all the more enticing.

Derek watched Stiles like he was some beautiful art. Speechless.

Derek winced as  thunder and lightning split the sky, and was jolted back to the reality. He shook his head huffing out a breath to settle down his senses. They needed to move on.

“What’re you doing?” Derek called out, shouting over the noise of the rain. For a moment he forgot that Stiles would be able to hear him, even if he muffled.

“Enjoying the rain,” Stiles replied, squinting his eyes at Derek in an attempt to avoid the rain drops trickling down into his eyes.

Derek rolled his eyes in I-can-see-that gesture. “Now?” he shot at Stiles, eyebrows almost touching the hairline.

“Oh Derek, there’s no fix time for anything. You do it the moment you want it,” Stiles slowly walked towards the car, his jeans sodden from the splash of muddy rain puddles. “And right now I want to enjoy the moment, Wanna join me?” he asked.

“No,” Derek jerked back, expecting Stiles to march forward and pull Derek out.

Stiles snorted on that, enjoying the reaction from the man, smiling with his full smile at Derek. He paused near the car but did not enter and continued getting soaked in the rain.

Derek averted his eyes from the sight, quickly searching to focus on something else. He was wet himself, not as much as Stiles, but his hair were dripping and stuck to his forehead. He leaned towards the backseat and scanned his bag until he found a towel rolled up in one corner. He dried his hair and damp body with the cloth, occasionally glancing for Stiles, who was still enjoying the moment.

Stiles returned back to the passenger seat after Derek almost threatened to leave him behind.

“Thanks,” Stiles tugged the towel out from Derek’s grip and moved it to wipe off his wet face, but instead, he sniffed into the fabric, deep, closing his eyes with some inexplicable pleasure, “God, you smell so good,” he whispered, opening his eyes still half lidded.

Derek ignored him and busied himself in unpacking the sandwich parcels. However, internally he felt relieved that he was not the only one who was enjoying other’s scent, maybe it was okay if his wolf was attracted towards the young Omega’s aroma. After all, he was biologically built like that. And for the first time, Derek felt normal and not like some creeper. For a moment he thought, he should now stop having freak outs about his feelings, until Stiles muttered his next sentence.

“I think I should change,” Stiles twitched in the seat uncomfortably. He slung the towel on his shoulder and crawled over to the back seat, almost kicking Derek on the face.

Derek heard as Stiles searched through his bag and took out dry cloths. Derek tore the parcel and digged out his sandwich. He focused his eyes ahead on the windshield as water drops danced on it. He heard the wet clothes slapped against Stiles’ damp body and he bit off big piece of stuffed bread. He heard the sound of pants zipper being pulled and he swallowed down the whole piece.

_Fuck. Block it. Stop. Don’t listen...urgh…block it damn it!_

Derek clenched his eyes closed, and twitched his ears to grasp other noises.

He found thudding of heartbeats, his own, which was drumming like crazy against the Stiles’ calm and soothing one. He tried to match Stiles’ pace, taking in slow gulp of air, loosening every tense muscle of his body one by one with each inhale. It helped.

“You okay buddy?” Stiles’ voice broke his meditation. Derek did not even realized when he got back to the passenger seat. “You look like you’re having a panic attack,” he added, searching Derek’s face in concern.

“I’m fine,” Derek replied, he hated the way his voice cracked. Immediately, Derek turned the engine on. “Let’s go,” he shot at Stiles, who looked unconvinced by Derek’s reply and ready to retaliate. “We’re late,” Derek added, in a bit harsh tone.

Stiles did not open his mouth to argue.

*****

 

Nobody spoke for the first fifteen minutes after Derek had started the car.

Derek was not sure if he was enjoying those silent moments or missing Stiles’ incessant chatter. For a moment, his heart sank, worrying that he might have hurt boy’s feelings in some way.

Derek turned to glance at Stiles.

Stiles was busy in writing on the fogged up window with his finger. He had written big curvy ‘Stiles’ right at the center, decorated it with nice flowers-leaves pattern and at the moment, he was engrossed in writing Derek’s name just below it.

Derek's lips twitched into a soft smile at the sight. He slumped back taking a comfortable position, focusing on the road again. He let out a breath feeling relaxed.

Stiles must have noticed the change in the air, because he immediately whipped around to look in Derek’s direction.

“It’s your company, right?” Stiles asked, wiping his wet fingers on his pant.

“Huh?” Derek did not get it.

“I heard you speaking to your sister. I know, there’s something major going on in your company and you’re stuck with me –“

“I am not stuck!” Derek protested, cutting Stiles in the mid-sentence. He was relieved that Stiles had not catch on to his mini freak-out, but he did not like the direction this conversion was heading. “I’m on a break and it’s my call how I spend it, okay?” he added in a soft tone, trying to sound reassuring. They were only a few miles from Beacon Hills, anyways.

“Oh,” Stiles huffed out. Derek knew the thought had been bothering Stiles, maybe because of his last comment – _We’re late_. And Derek felt nice that they clarified. “By the way, what’s the name of your company?” Stiles asked, curiously gazing at Derek.

“Hale Enterp–“

“What?” Stiles exclaimed, eyes wide in shock. “No way! You’re the Hale? From Abraham Hale’s pack? Oh my God!” he breathed, taking a moment to absorb the fact before continuing. “I did a school project on the History of famous packs and the Hale pack was one of them, obviously. I mean, Abraham Hale was one of the two werewolves who could turn into a full grown wolf. _A full fucking wolf_. Can you imagine?” Stiles commented, totally forgetting that he was actually talking about Derek’s great-great-grandfather.

Stiles continued in daze, his eyes swayed towards the window, unfocused. “We haven’t heard someone do that in a fucking century. And the other werewolf, Desert wolf…her descendants somehow completely extinct, like poof…Gone.”

Derek had heard about the Desert wolf’s pack. It was tough being a legend. You would be some living tale for people to admire and follow and discuss, and you would have your fair share of jealousy and politics and hatred from other competitor packs. Derek had experienced a glimpse of it, when dealing with Jennifer. Her pack had played the sick game of _fake soulmates_ just to get attached to the Hale Alpha.

Abraham Hale was a legend. One of a kind. But people had assumed that each of his descendant Alphas to somehow magically have those abilities, by default. Derek had witnessed his grandfather and his father struggled to maintain the same benchmark which had been set for them a century ago. They couldn’t turn into a full wolf and did not have those ultimate wolf powers, which everyone had dreamt of and cherished for a century now.

The other pack - Desert wolf pack - couldn’t handle the pressure of expectations and had gone undercover. However, Hale pack, being already powerful and rich, and influential, somehow survived so far.

“So, how do you feel being a part of such a legendary pack?”

Stiles’ teasing question broke the chain of Derek’s thoughts. He blinked, watching the road. It amazed him that the boy knew so much.

“Why your school projects are always on me or my pack?” Derek mumbled, scrunching his eyebrows, instead of answering Stiles’ question.

Stiles barked out a laugh, “I told you, we have a connection,” Stiles winked at Derek and Derek had to roll his eyes.

_Oh, he would miss this boy for sure..._

 

 


	11. A proposal

 

“Okay turn right! go right!”

Derek turned the wheel on a reflex and snarled at Stiles in frustration for giving him directions at the very last moment.

It was almost six in the evening, and they had finally reached Beacon Hills.

“Yes, this way, here,” Stiles added. They both were exhausted but Derek could smell the positive shift in Stiles’ scent. “I’m home,” Stiles squealed in delight.

Derek shook his head when Stiles clapped his hands like a happy seal being offered a food, but his lips automatically curved up. He glanced over the area. They were entering into a driveway of a house…Stiles’ house, finally.

Derek was supposed to feel good, happy that he managed to drop Stiles home in one piece, happy that he could now get a break from his constant jabber, happy that he could now return to his own business but, instead, he  felt hollow. His heart tingled with a strange jittery feeling as if he was missing something, or was about to leave behind something. Something very important.

Derek breathed, shaking off the vulnerable feeling. He parked the car a little away from the house and . He watched Stiles unbuckle his seatbelt and jump out of the car. Derek did not follow.

Derek hesitated, absently clutching at his seatbelt, feeling drained out even to move. Well, he knew it had got nothing to do with feelings. No. It was just his body going whacked with a not stop drive and a lack of sleep, maybe. He could just wave a hand in a silent goodbye or no…it was Stiles, nothing was silent about Stiles, so he could expect a quick handshake and a clap on the arm with a formal thank you.

“Come on,” Suddenly, Stiles’ head peeked through the passenger window. He motioned at Derek, squinting his eyes in confusion.

“Uh, I should go now,” Derek tried to decline.

Stiles' eyes widened in disbelief on the reply. “What? You can’t just –“

“Stiles?”

A sharp voice cut Stiles’ retort and he whipped his body in the direction of the source.

“Melissa!” Stiles greeted the lady with a hug. His tense shoulder muscles relaxed on finding the lady to welcome him back, rather than someone else like his father, maybe.

Melissa McCall - an Omega of the Stilinski-McCall pack, John Stilinski’s second wife – Derek remembered her.

“Oh, you’re back. You got all of us worried,” Melissa pulled away and held Stiles grabbing him at arms, searching his face as if checking for some injuries. After a moment, her gaze swayed in Derek’s direction and her expressions changed from concerned to curious in a flash. “Who’s this?” She asked.

“This is Miguel,” Stiles blurted out so fast that even Derek missed on his lie.

Derek’s heart skipped a beat, even though he was not the one who had lied. His body went stiff. Why was Stiles lying? Didn’t he want to introduce Derek to his pack? The thought stung his heart, deep.

Derek came to his senses when he felt a heavy weight of stares on him, Melissa’s inquiring and Stiles’ desperate. He wanted Derek to play along. Fine.

Derek got out of the car and walked towards Melissa. After all, it was just a matter of a few minutes and Derek would be out of here forever. And, for some reason, he didn’t want to look ill-mannered in front of Stiles’ pack., even though the Omega did not bother about the proper introductions.

“Hello Ma’am,” Derek offered his hand. Melissa shook it, looking at Stiles questioningly.

“He’s the one who saved my ass yesterday,” Stiles provided, grinning wide at Derek, eyes twinkling in appreciation.

“Oh, he’s the one who scared those stray betas?” expressions on Melissa’s face softened within a second.

“And he helped me to get my luggage back and raced down here to drop me off,” Stiles added with pleasure.

Melissa looked at Derek with admiration, giving him  a warm smile. For a moment, that reminded him a look of his mother’s face whenever he had achieved something. No. Derek blinked rapidly and ducked his head trying to scratch the thought away. He was not going to miss her now.

“Thank you Miguel for protecting our little Omega,” Melissa’s voice brought Derek back. Maybe, he was feeling too warned out to zone out like that so frequently in the middle of the conversation. And…Miguel?  The name sounded off to his ears. “You should meet John…Stiles’ father,” she suggested. “He would definitely like to thank you in person.”

Derek opened his mouth protest. “No, I should-“

“Please, I insist,” she interrupted Derek with a firm, but kind voice. She patted Derek lightly on the arm. “You kids smell hungry and tired. I’m sure you have to drive back a long distance. You can take a rest here for a while,” she offered.

Derek looked at Stiles for help. He just shrugged.

The idea of taking rest and food was tempting. Derek was hungry and ready to eat whole horse. He was so sleep deprived that he would surely bump to some tree if he tried driving now. Melissa’s offer sounded better than stopping by at some filthy motel on the way.

“Okay,” he nodded his head in agreement and Stiles chirped in delight.

******

 

“What did you say your last name was?” Derek watched the Alpha’s eyes squinted in the same manner as Stiles’.

Stiles had tactfully handled the initial introductions with John – the Stilinski Alpha, and Melissa had given a small speech on Miguel the saviour, making Derek’s case presentable, but beneath all the gentle exteriors, Derek could feel the aura of a strongly guarded Alpha surrounding John. Even the little scrunch of his eyebrows felt pretty intimidating.

John had a spicy, musky scent that tinged with Stiles’ sugary flavour. Derek was expecting some reluctance from the orthodox Alpha towards the Beta like him, but John had surprised Derek with a wide welcoming grin. He had also clapped Derek’s back in gratitude; but Derek was so not okay with lying to the Alpha. Tiny hair at the back of Derek’s neck rose with a chill that thought carried along.

“It’s the Juarez Cinuqa Diago pack,” Stiles carried the conversation, and John gave him a sharp look. Stiles smirked in reply. “I know, it’s a bit mouthful. So he prefers calling it the Diago pack,” Stiles declared, totally unaffected by his father’s reaction. They must do this on a regular basis, Derek thought.

“So are you from Mexico?” John asked, moving his gaze back on Derek. God! Derek wanted to die.

“Of course Dad, He’s a businessm-“

“Stiles, why don’t you let Miguel talk for a while,” John cut Stiles, raising his palm at Stiles’ face, signalling him to stop talking.

“O-kay,” Stiles shrugged,  gesturing at Derek to proceed as if it was no big deal, but his gaze flickered over at him in concern.

“We’re into manufacturing,” Derek answered John’s question this time. At least, he wasn’t lying. He gave a few details of the Hale Enterprise business without getting into specifics. John looked convinced.

Before John could continue, Melissa interrupted them lightly squeezing at John’s shoulder.

“Come on John, give them a break.”

John might be the big bad Alpha, but his expression softened immediately at his Omega’s touch. They stared into other’s eyes like sharing some mute dialogue and Derek felt the pleasant shift in the surrounding air. Melissa then turned towards Stiles. “Honey, why don’t you show Miguel our guest room while I arrange some food for you two?”

“Sure,” Stiles grabbed his bag from the floor and almost fled upstairs, with Derek at his tail.

******

“God! That went smoother than I expected,” Stiles huffed out, leaning against the closed door of a guest room. The room was soundproof. Derek watched Stiles’ chest heave as the Omega breathed like he had just returned from a long rune. Derek’s gaze lingered over his parted pink mouth for an embarrassingly long moment. He snatched it away with a jerk.

“Why did you lie?” Derek barked, ignoring the relaxed smile on Stiles’ face. He did not understand why the boy loved complications.

The smile on Stiles’ face quickly thinned. He walked over to Derek, stopping right in front of him. “Because, I don’t want to drag you in Stilinski-McCall pack drama when I run away from here,” he muttered, steadily staring into Derek’s eyes.

“What?” Derek did not expect that.

Stiles rolled his eyes. “I told you right? About my plan to get marked?“

Of course, Derek knew about the plan. Stiles had repeated it multiple times in last eighteen hours, to the point that Derek’s heart twisted with an inexplicable ache.

Before Derek could react, there was a knock on the door.

“Stiles!”

A boy barged through the door and attacked Stiles. Scott McCall, Derek recalled.

“You scared the shit out of me, bro,” he squeezed Stiles into a tight hug and marched towards Derek with a wide toothy smile.

“You must be Miguel,” Derek froze when the Alpha wrapped arms around him, pulling Derek into a bone crushing hug. But the boy released him just as quickly.  “Mom told me about you. Thanks man,” he added.

Derek scanned Scott’s face with wide eyes. He hadn’t seen an Alpha so open towards a Beta from another pack. Not when you were meeting for the first time. Maybe he loved Stiles so much and was just overwhelmed that Derek had brought him back safely.

Derek looked at Stiles who was watching him with mischievous expressions, like he was enjoying the confused reactions on Derek’s face.

“Stiles,” The Alpha shouted, attracting the full attention of other werewolves in the room. “John’s called you in his room. You’re screwed man,” Scott teased, turning in Stiles’ direction. “Jackson’s coming,” he added with a snort, like the idea entertained him too much.

“What? The Douchemore?” Stiles yelped, in horror, eyes bulging out, mouth wide open. He waited for Scott like he wanted him to take the words back. Scott shot him a sympathetic look. “Why Jackson?” Stiles cried out, clenching his eyes, making an exasperated sound.

“John specifically warned me not to tell you this, but,” Scott shrugged. “I can’t just let you enter his den unprepared.”

“Thanks bro,” Stiles whispered, throwing an appreciative look at Scott. “I’m dead.” he declared, slumping his shoulders in defeat.

Derek did not understand a single word that had just been said, but Stiles’ heartbeat was  reaching new peaks. Stiles was freaking out. And…

Who the hell was Jackson?

******

 

“Jackson’s coming at eight? Tonight?” Stiles exclaimed, furrowing his eyes in a total disapproval. He was not ready for this. Not tonight. Not ever.

John did not reply as he had already done with the explanations.

“But Dad, that’s only two hours away. How am I supposed to –“ Stiles tried to protest. He needed time...to execute his own plans.

“You were supposed to come home yesterday, Stiles,” John cut him with a sharp voice. But after a moment, the Alpha let out a sigh. “Listen to me,” he continued, but in calm tone this time. He moved to sit beside Stiles on the couch and circled his hand on the agitated Omega’s back in a soothing motion. Stiles muscles relaxed a bit with the warm touch from his father. John took that as a good sign to continue the topic further. “It’s just a small part of a courting process. Jackson’s an eligible Alpha from a respected family and he’s going overseas tomorrow. So, unfortunately the meeting has to be tonight.”

Stiles did not reply. He pinned his gaze on the floor. John’s hand left Stiles’ back and moved to cover his hand instead, which was shivering in his lap. “You know I won’t force you for anything right?”

Stiles raised his head, meeting his father’s eyes. He had to nod. It was true after all. His father never burdened him for anything…yet. But Stiles’ courting was altogether different thing. It was directly going to affect the pack. Pack strength, status. Scott was lucky to have found his match in Kira, who was also the perfect match for the pack. And Stiles…well, Stiles’ match was not suitable according to the bullshit orthodox community standards.

“It’s not like you have to agree right away,” John continued interrupting into Stiles’ chain of thought. “Meet a few more Alphas if you want. I’m sure my boy will receive many proposals like this. The claim bite is a very last step, Stiles. I just want you to get marked…mark-bite or at least Scent marking?” His voice dropped into a low murmur. “You’re turning eighteen next month and it’s not safe to remain unmarked for a long time.” John looked like he wanted to continue but didn’t say anything else.

Stiles observed John’s face twisted with concern...fear. Stiles knew that it was not safe. There had been many attempts to force-claim an unmarked Omega in the recent past. But hello? That did not mean he would mate with some Jackson asshole Whittemore. Nope.

“Okay,” Stiles replied, without showing a slightest hint of his internal turmoil. He shot up from the couch, ready to leave.

“Alright,” John huffed out. Lines on his forehead smoothed out in relief. “Stiles,” he called after a moment, halting Stiles’ advance towards the door. “Please take a shower,” he  scrunched up his nose.

Stiles did not understand a sudden worry from his father regarding his scent. He turned to face the man and muttered out a dialogue that distinctly stuck into his memory from last night. “Dad, an Omega’s scent is like elixir to unmated werewolves.”

“Exactly,” John retorted. “But you smell like that Beta,”

“Who? Miguel? No I don’t,” Stiles blurted out and John gave him a disbelieving look. Stiles approached him urgently twiddling his fingers in an attempt to come up with a reply. He tried to strain his memory threads thinking about the possibilities.  “Dad! It’s nothing. Well, I might have shared his towel. Because it was raining. And I got wet. Very wet,” Stiles’ explanations were dangerously close to turning into an unnecessary ramble.

“It’s okay Stiles. Just wash it off.The visiting Alpha won’t like it,” John said pointedly and waited for Stiles until the boy bobbed a nod in affirmation. This was important.

 

Stiles was relieved that his father did not push the issue. He’d just shower and the issue would be solved - unless...

A idea rang into Stiles’ brain like a bell. He needed a plan, a desperate way out of tonight’s proposal. His eyes glittered with a dangerous twinkle.

 

****************

 

Derek was sitting on a concrete bench in Stiles’ garden.

He stretched his arms over the backrest, relaxing his sore muscles which were buzzing in a light pain from the nonstop drive. His tummy was full and he realized that Stiles was not exaggerating when he talked about Melissa’s cooking skills. Derek ate like he hadn’t eaten in months and Melissa served him like she had found a guinea pig to try out her cooking skills on. They matched.

The program went on successfully until Melissa casually mentioned Jackson Whittemore – the Alpha who was invited for the courting proposal for Stiles. Tonight. And…Derek might have choked on his chicken soup on the new Details, turning red with mild coughing attack, almost on the verge of shifting. That was bad.

He settled down within a moments, plastering a casual smile on his face, but his appetite was gone after that.

Derek was perfectly okay with Stiles meeting a potential mate. Except, he did not understand when his stomach churned with a hot pang, which vaguely felt like jealousy. No.

He buried his face into the dinner plate and tried to focus on Melissa’s voice, but the words did not register. He faintly remembered rough mentions about – how she thought that Betas were important part of pack building, and how she would welcome a Beta in her own pack, and how she would support her kids if they preferred a Beta. God! Why would she share those things with Derek throwing him curious, knowing glances? Derek did not understand that either.

He didn’t get a chance to interact with Stiles after the boy left the guestroom to talk to his father. An hour later, Derek had caught a glimpse of him through the window as he walked away with  the Alpha - Jackson, on a formal dinner date.

Derek might have just gawked at Stiles from a distance, who looked…different, in a black button up shirt and skinny  jeans. Stiles’ gaze searched the surroundings until he looked up and locked eyes with Derek. He had an  apprehensive look in his eyes like he wanted to share something. With Derek. But of course, they did not get a chance. He smelled off and dirty, like he hadn’t even taken a shower, after returning from their journey. Strange.

Derek tried to relax on the soft bed, shifting from side to side, but sleep felt like a remote possibility despite his exhaustion. So, he got up and joined Scott in the garden, in an attempt to distract himself. They shared a nice chat. Scott talked fondly about Stiles, his childhood, his stupid pranks and so on, before Melissa called him in.

Derek was alone now. The rain had stopped for a while and the cool breeze felt clean and soothing on his skin. He tried to clear his mind, to get a grip over his overflowing emotions. He did not understand why he was getting so involved. He felt as if some invisible tug was pulling him towards Stiles and he couldn’t help but let it drag him along. He felt helpless, but he felt good, like he was getting dragged in the right direction.

His thoughts broke off with a screeching sound of tyres in the driveway, followed by the two heartbeats. One of them was Stiles’.

Derek glanced at his watch. It had hardly been an hour since they had left. He heard Stiles’ footsteps approaching very fast, almost running, like he knew Derek was there and he wanted to reach the man before someone else could. Derek looked at him expectantly when he emerged from around the corner.

“Thank God!” Stiles wheezed under his breath when his gaze landed on Derek. Hurriedly he moved towards the man and mouthed – ‘Help me’

Derek scanned him warily. Stiles’ face was twitching with some panic, heatbeat rabbiting, forehead beaded with tiny sweat drops, and his big amber eyes were focused on Derek, pleading.

Derek’s heart flipped on seeing the Omega in such a vulnerable state.

“Alright,” he muttered out without thinking about what he might be agreeing to. But he felt good when the Omega released a choked breath and tried to smile back.

Derek watched Stiles ducked his head and went absolutely still in front of him, like he was waiting for something. Someone. Derek flickered his gaze away, when he heard footsteps entering into the garden. It was Jackson.

And…the next moment, Derek felt the cold tip of Stiles’ nose nuzzling against his neck just below the right ear.

Derek flinched in shock. A sudden shiver ran through his entire body on that tiny contact.

Stiles sniffed against the Derek's neck again, moving his hand to rest on Derek’s shoulder holding him still.

Derek breathed, deep, taking in thick gulps of Stiles’ scent. He clenched his hands into a fist, tight and held them at the sides, which were twitching to touch the Omega. His eyes automatically fluttered close, head tipped back a little allowing Stiles a proper access. He felt dizzy with some enigmatic pleasure. He had never found anyone’s scent so inviting in his entire life before, and he didn’t believe that he could stop himself from doing something horribly stupid in response.

“What the fuck!” Jackson’s shocked bark broke them apart.

“Jackson!” Stiles let out a fake gasp.

They watched Jackson stride out of the garden and drive off in utter fury. Stiles squealed in delight, punching the air in celebration, before his gaze found a very grumpy, very stunned Derek.

“You tried to scent mark me in front of your Alpha-date,” Derek said in a low voice, as if speaking to himself, eyes wavering on Stiles’ face in confusion.

“Please don’t kill me for that,” Stiles squeezed one eye shut, throwing a panicky glances at Derek.

Derek did not know what to do to this boy…maybe he should just go ahead and punch him on the face.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride ahead


	12. Good Bye!

All his suppressed emotions suddenly erupted like a volcano.

Derek did not register Stiles’ ‘ _sorry_ ’ and ‘ _I shouldn’t have done that_ ’ and ‘ _You can hit me if you want_ ’.

Derek couldn’t wait there a second more. Not when the thick scent of the Omega was still hitting his nostrils hard, or when his neck still prickled with a chill from the Omega’s touch, or when his shirt was still wrinkled from the Omega’s tight grip on his shoulder.

Stiles stood there hijacking Derek’s personal space, radiating the warm alluring body heat, mumbling with his constantly moving wet pink lips.

Derek fled to the guest room, throwing _‘it’s okay_ ’ at Stiles.

He dropped on the bed, legs suddenly giving out. His brain buzzed with a light tickling sensation and he felt like he was floating, weightless. His eyes automatically fluttered closed and within a few seconds he’d drifted off into the dream world. He felt so light.

******

 

“Get up.”

A light blow of air tickled Derek’s ear. He scratched it, still sleeping, and tried to roll over onto his other side.

“Hey hey, get up buddy.”

Derek’s eyelids refused to open as if they were glued together, but his lips subconsciously twitched into a smile on hearing Stiles’ soft voice.

“Come on.”

Derek’s entire body vibrated as Stiles tried to shake him awake. He finally managed to open his eyes only to find the big amber ones’ staring back at him, full of anxiety. The boy was crouching beside the bed leaning over Derek. Derek jerked back on a reflex.

“Stiles? What’re you doing here?” Derek’s voice came out rough, laced with lingering sleep. Slowly he regained his senses.  By no means,  should Stiles be in this room with him. “What time is it?” his gaze turned to look through the window. It was still dark.

“It’s midnight, sleepy head,” Stiles stood up, searching the room. He grabbed Derek’s shirt from the chair and threw at his face. “We need to get out of here…Now.” Stiles declared like he hadn’t noticed Derek’s startled reaction and started dumping scattered stuff into Derek’s bag.

“What?” Derek exclaimed in shock. He felt his heart skip a beat. _We?_

Stiles moved closer to the bed again, staring down at Derek. His gaze lingered over Derek’s hair which must have been sticking out in all possible directions. Stiles took a moment before opening his mouth.

“Jackson conveyed his rejection to Dad right away and Dad’s kinda freaking out.”

“I wonder what could have gone wrong,” Derek snapped, rolling his eyes. He knew this would happen. In fact, he was quite surprised that Stiles’ father hadn’t barged into the room to kick his ass out. Maybe the Alpha didn’t know the root cause, yet.

“Well, my Dad threw that asshole Alpha right at my face and my reaction was pure reflex, okay?” Stiles tried to protest. “And nothing’s wrong, by the way. Everything’s as per the plan,” Stiles continued with all his undying optimism, like everything was fed in his brain as some computer program. “We’re running away from here. I’ll go to Victor, you’ll go follow your dreams, right? I’ll get marked and turn eighteen in twenty five days. Make it legal and come back. I’ll come back to my pack with Victor. I know Dad will approve then,” Stiles pointed his finger at Derek as if that would convince him, or he was trying to convince himself. If Derek hadn’t been watching, unblinking, he might have missed the way Stiles’ expression wavered with uncertainty on that last line.

Derek let out a heavy sigh, dipping his head to hide his own internal chaos. He should be okay with the plan, all set to chase his own dreams. But Stiles? Derek had got a glimpse of Stiles’ strict Alpha-father. The man hadn’t even offered him a chance to breathe before sending Stiles on his first date.

Derek realised, hypothetically, Stiles would have to fight a war against his own father if he wished to mate the Beta. Derek couldn’t stop Stiles from loving someone so stupidly, so he should also be okay with Stiles' choice. He just wished he could stop the damn piercing ache which cut through his heart every time Stiles uttered Victor’s name now.

“Alright,” Derek blurted out as he noticed Stiles was waiting for his approval, looking at him with big hopeful eyes.

“Alright,” Stiles parroted in delight. “Now take this,” he stretched his palm open in front of Derek’s face. Derek warily looked at the tiny capsule resting against the pale skin.

“What’s this?” Derek furrowed his eyebrows and glared at Stiles like he had grown a second head.

“Scent suppressor,” Stiles provided, quirking his eyebrow with a smug smile.

“What!” Derek felt his heartbeat quicken like he sensed danger. “These are illegal. And how did _you_ get this? You are not eighteen yet,” Derek shot up and stood opposite Stiles, the effects of sleep long gone.

“God!” Stiles let out an exasperated sound. He picked up the glass of water from the corner table and held it in front of Derek, ignoring the freak out the man was having. “What century are you living in? Everyone’s using these nowadays. There’s a whole wild world waiting for you, ready to eat you alive. You can’t survive out there being so naive Derek. Are you even real?”

Derek didn’t take the glass, feeling a little irritated at the teenager teasing him like that, no matter how _true_ it was.

Stiles rolled his eyes. He took a step closer and stared at Derek with a serious look. “Look, if we want to follow this plan then you’re gonna need this. I don’t want my father to come after you unnecessarily when we leave his house. So just trust me,” he grabbed Derek’s hand and shoved the glass into it. “This’s a strong dose, enough  to suppress your scent for two days. And rain must have washed away your other traces -”

“What about you?” Derek inquired, cutting Stiles off mid-sentence.

“Oh, I got enough stock with me,” Stiles pulled out the small box from his shirt pocket and tapped on it suggestively. “I’m fine too,” he added grinning widely. “We’re ready to leave today, like right now. Let’s go.” Stiles was buzzing with excitement, nervousness.

Derek warily scanned his face for a full ten seconds, before swallowing the capsule down. For some reason he hated this plan.

******

 

“Are you alright?” Derek asked, throwing a quick glance at Stiles. Derek’s hands were stiff from having driven  for two hours straight, without a break.

They’d got lucky and managed the escape from Stiles’ house without getting caught. They’d had to push the car  for almost  a mile to avoid unnecessary noise and Derek hated the way Stiles had thrown him pleased smirks like he was thoroughly enjoying Derek’s mute scowls.

Victor’s home was on the way back to  Derek’s, so dropping  Stiles off there was not an issue for him. This way, Derek wouldn’t have to worry about abandoning the Omega midway and leaving him to attract unnecessary attention.

After a few minutes into the drive, Stiles’ anxious rant had faded away to low murmurs, before stopping completely. He was unnaturally quiet for the whole time. It felt wrong.

Derek watched Stiles wince at hearing  his voice, jerking out of the quick nap he’d been taking. Maybe the boy was tired. Derek wondered if he had got a chance to lie down before leaving the house, probably not.

“Hmm,” Stiles hummed, his voice sounding  low and tired. Derek had sensed the change in the air from excited to nervous in last two hours and eventually mixed with sad, scared vibes.

“If you’re not sure and scared, then we can still go back –“

“No, I’m not,” Stiles objected, cutting off Derek’s offer straight away. He shifted in his seat to face Derek fully. “Love is a very positive thing Derek, and no one should be scared to love.”

Derek chanced a glance at Stiles, swaying away immediately to fix his eyes on the road instead. He swallowed, he didn’t dare meet Stiles’ eyes when the boy was glaring at him with such intensity and talking about _love_.

“It’s just circumstances that are good or bad…Not love. Well, my circumstances aren’t looking good at the moment but I’m sure, they’ll change in next twenty five days. My Mom was Dad’s soulmate. It’s a very rare and the ultimate form of love. So I know that he knows what love is,” he paused when his voice cracked on the memory of his deceased mother. Stiles moved his gaze out  the window not actually watching, unfocused. He whispered like he was talking to himself. “I can’t blame him for believing what he’s learnt his entire life. He just needs some time to absorb and maybe some…pressure,” Stiles huffed out a weak laugh which faltered within a second.

Derek felt the pain behind Stiles’ desperate attempt at humour. He clenched his fingers around the wheel so they wouldn’t just shoot out to reach  for the boy.

Sudden mention of Stiles’ parents brought back memories of his own. His parents were not soulmates, but they had loved each other enough, until Talia’s soulmate came into the picture. No. Derek knew Talia still loved his father even when he was on his death bed. Talia had waited on the street outside  the hospital for two days when Laura hadn’t allowed her to visit, holding Talia responsible for their father’s critical condition. And  Derek had supported her, to date.

They both refused to see Talia or take a phone call from her, even though she had kept trying every day for last eight days, pleading for their forgiveness, for acceptance. Derek was too lost in shock and anger to realise that his mother had just surrendered to the rare and ultimate form of love. Derek realised now that she wouldn’t have survived rejecting her soulmate to save her marriage. And then, Derek would have blamed himself for being responsible for the death of his mother.

Derek shook his head, attempting to bring himself back to the present.

“Hey, are you alright?” Stiles asked, placing a hand on Derek’s shoulder. Derek felt his muscles loosen immediately under the warm touch, like Stiles was his anchor.

“Yes, I am alright…now,” Derek replied nodding at Stiles with gratitude. Knowingly, unknowingly, Stiles had helped him to understand his own shitty life a little bit better and Derek thought, he would survive a little bit better after meeting this chatty, impulsive boy.

And Derek was ready to live with that.

******

 

“Here, take this,” Derek held out the pink cell phone for Stiles.

Stiles warily looked at it, his eyes flickering  back to Derek in surprise.

Derek had parked the car at the side of the road outside Victor’s apartment building. The locality was nice and safe. The sun had just started to rise over the horizon but Derek could already hear movements from some of the flats above. One of them could be Victor, waiting for Stiles.

“No, I can’t. It’s your phone,” Stiles politely tried to decline, but pursed his lips tight when his gaze landed on that jazzy device in an attempt to suppress a snort. He failed. “I know you hate it and just trying to get rid of it, right?”

Of course, Derek hated that thing. If Stiles was finding it so amusing then Derek couldn’t imagine what Laura would do if she saw Derek handling that device. She might just die from a laughing fit. But Derek would never think of getting rid of _anything_ which Stiles had chosen for him, not even if it meant facing a lifetime of embarrassment.

Luckily,  at this moment it was Stiles who needed that cell phone more than Derek did.

“Yes, you’re right,” Derek agreed. “I might just throw it away somewhere, so keep this with you, just in case,” Derek stepped forward shoving the cell phone in Stiles’ direction.

Derek watched as Stiles’ expression melted into something soft. He blinked at Derek like he couldn’t believe that Derek cared so much. Hesitantly, he took the device from Derek’s hand.

“Thanks man, I’m glad that I got a chance to meet you. You’re an amazing person,” Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek and gave him a tight hug. He let go quickly but watched Derek with a warm, radiating  smile. Derek felt his heart stutter in reply.

Derek jerked back a step . He didn’t want Stiles to catch on to _anything_ from him.

“I think, I should go now,” Derek’s gaze wavered down to Stiles’ feet, refusing to meet his eyes. He shoved his hands into his pants pockets to hide the way they were shaking with anxiety, before turning to move towards his car.

“W-wait,” Stiles stammered, griping Derek’s arm, stopping his retreat. He quickly moved forward to face Derek. “Don't you want to meet Victor?” he asked searching Derek’s face in confusion.

“No, it’s okay Stiles, I’ve really got to go now,” Derek replied, still avoiding eye contact. His wolf was getting restless after sensing separation was imminent. The Omega’s scent had slowly started overpowering all his senses  and Derek was finding it tougher to control it with each passing moment. He needed to get the hell away from Stiles, before everything went to shit.

“Okay,” Stiles huffed. His fingers adjusted the grip without actually releasing Derek’s arm. “Give me your contact number then, I’ll call you sometime.” With the other hand, he tapped on the phone keypad, ready to feed the number in.

Of course, Derek wanted to keep in touch with this amazing Omega and would like to listen to his stupid jabbering, every day for all eternity. And Derek was really happy for Stiles. Happy that Stiles’ had found his true love. Happy that Stiles would get to settle into his new life. Happy that Stiles was happy.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Derek blurted out even before he could stop himself. He felt Stiles’ fingers unwrap his arm and drop down to his side. Derek missed the contact immediately.

“Oh come on,” Stiles rolled his eyes like Derek had just attempted some flop joke. “I know you love me man,” he added, punching Derek’s chest playfully.

Derek raised his head finally and gave Stiles an intense look, absorbing everything in front him, like he was seeing him for the last time. Yes, Derek was indeed seeing Stiles for the last time.

“I _don’t_ love you Stiles,” he muttered before whipping his body around, striding towards the parked car.

He did not miss the way his heart sputtered on the word – _don’t_ and he had no doubts that Stiles’ didn’t miss it either. It was a lie.

“Huh?”

Derek could hear the surprised gasp that skipped out of Stiles’ mouth in reply.

Derek drove off at full speed without a second glance.

 


	13. Dreams Come True

 

_Derek watched the boy…Omega as he sprinted through the dark forest._

_The familiar red plaid shirt flapped in front of Derek’s vision as the boy ran  ahead, trying to dodge the branches which were tearing at his clothes. His gasping breath and rabbiting heartbeat echoed in Derek’s ears against the profound silence._

_A howl ripped through the night piercing Derek’s eardrums, too close. He felt a cold gust of air as the wolf raced through the woods. Derek didn’t get a good view of the beast, just caught a glimpse of the thick black fur and the massive paws – big enough to cover the Omega’s head with a single swipe – thudding against the ground as it chased the boy._

_Suddenly, the boy tripped over a root, falling flat on his face. For some reason, Derek knew the Omega was hopelessly clumsy and this was just inevitable. And…Derek also knew the vicious wolf was adjusting his stance now, ready to pounce on the boy._

 

“Stiles!”

Derek jolted awake shouting out the name. He took several moments to realise that it was a dream and he was currently sprawled on his comfy bed, drenched in sweat.

He rubbed his palm over the face, wiping away the sweat and inhaled slowly to get a grip on his uneven breathing.

‘ _It was just a dream_ ,’ he whispered to convince his still agitated mind that _Stiles was safe_.

It had been a few hours since he had returned home. After dropping Stiles off, he had spent the majority of his time freaking over the last line he had spoken to  the Omega. _Why?_ Why did he confess his _not-love_ to Stiles? He inwardly cursed himself a million times while thinking over what Stiles might have felt about it. That one day with Stiles was undoubtedly the best day of his entire life and he just hoped Stiles didn’t  hate him for the way it had ended.

The dream might have been a result of his vulnerable feelings or just missing Stiles too much.

Derek winced at  the blaring buzzer of the alarm clock. He smacked it to turn it off and glanced at the time. It was six in the morning and within a few hours he would have to face the super judgmental committee members. This was it; today they were selecting the new chairperson of Hale Enterprise.

Derek kicked the comforter and bounced out of  the bed. He was ready for the face off. Derek was a confident, talented businessman, one of the best of his generation. But today, he could literally feel the electric current buzzing under his skin, full of energy and hope, like he had evolved in one single day. A day with Stiles. The Omega had touched his life in more ways than he had ever imagined, Derek knew that.

******

Derek listened to Mr. Harris with his full attention.

The man was one of the nominees for the position and Derek listened to him as he addressed the meeting, speaking about his advantages over other candidates as he was the Alpha _this_ and the Alpha _that_ and blah blah blah…

Sitting beside  Derek, Laura was letting out dry sighs of disinterest, definitely audible. She maintained a stoic mask over her pretty face as the provisional head of the company, but was radiating the thick scent of anxiety. Derek knew she was worried about him; he was the next speaker.

Of course, Derek was nervous and had almost had a panic attack when he’d entered the conference room. He’d tried chanting his ‘ _Alpha-Beta-Omega_ ’ mantra silently in an attempt to calm his nerves, but slowly his thoughts had slipped to…Stiles. He’d taken in big gulp of air and tried to visualize what Stiles would have said if he’d seen Derek like this.

‘ _What's the worst thing that can happen, Derek?_ ’ Stiles’ teasing voice had rung in his head.

Derek had tried to think over the possibilities. One, he might just choke during his speech. Two, he might punch Harris, if the irritating Alpha tried to interrupt him with his bullshit and three, he could lose the position.

Derek had let out a heavy breath which he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. The knot in his tight chest had loosened gradually as he’d gone through all the extreme worst case scenarios one by one. And he relaxed.

Harris’ speech received favorable applause and Derek shifted in the chair adjusting his tie, in preparation. Under the table, Laura’s hand found Derek’s to give it a light concerned squeeze. Derek shot a quick nod at her, in reassurance. He was ready.

“Mr Hale,” Harris interrupted before Derek could even open his mouth, way earlier than Derek had predicted. “Can you please enlighten us as to why you missed the formalities of the last two days and joined us today directly for the final speech?”

Derek’s eyebrows furrowed in disapproval, but relaxed in a beat as he realized it must be Harris’ sick maneuver to demoralize him right before his formal speech. He ducked his head and smirked at Harris’ desperate attempt to humiliate him.

“I believe, you just received a round of applause for your speech, Mr Harris. I didn’t know you had more to say. I don’t mind waiting for my turn and certainly don’t enjoy interrupting others,” he asserted, eyeing Harris with a flat look. “And as far as formalities are concerned, I’ve already completed them with Mr Deaton.” He looked at Deaton who nodded in approval. No one seemed interested in stretching the issue and Harris sank back into his seat clenching his jaw, but didn’t comment further.

Derek was aware, every single member in that room knew how wrecked his life had been lately. On the personal front, he had lost his father and had no support from his mother. He hadn’t received the prestigious Hale Alpha rank, against everyone's initial predictions. He had been cold heartedly cheated by his potential mate and a powerful allied pack.

On the profession front, Hale Enterprise had been rapidly losing its prestige after the shocking news  of Alpha David Hale’s death and  its possible abandonment by its expected successor. Everyone thought that Derek was running away from the responsibilities. Derek was also aware that every single member in that room was currently doubting his abilities to fix everything and Derek needed to reassure them.

“I know I was away for two days and you have all been hearing pretty nasty rumors about me,” Derek gazed over the committee members. “And many of them are…true.” A few members looked taken aback. Some twitched their lips up on this candid confession. Derek felt more confident, now that he had managed to get the first few lines out without actually passing out.

“Hale Enterprise is suffering. Our stock price has fallen to its lowest level of past ten years. We haven’t received any new projects, funds have been stopped. Our staff feel vulnerable and everything seems to have reached the  lowest possible point but it can’t fall farther. So now…from here on in, we can only rise and move forward positively.”

There was a moment of utter silence. Derek couldn’t even  hear his own breathing.

“This is our dream and if we wish it strongly enough, from the bottom of our hearts we’ll get what we want. I know Dad’s watching from up there somewhere and I want to show him that…Boss, we’re going to take this company to the next level, even higher than you ever hoped for.”

There was a sudden cheer and thunderous applause broke out in the room. Laura, Erica and Boyd were the loudest. But Derek had not finished yet.

“I’ll fight for it…chairperson or not. I will,” he added when everyone had quietened down to hear more. “And I need your support and guidance. I need you all to trust me.”

The room radiated with a positivity and hope during Derek’s speech as he continued on. Laura looked at him like a proud parent. His friends congratulated him on his solid comeback. Even stone faced Deaton looked impressed with Derek.

Derek felt a transformation in himself as if  the gloomy clouds were shifting aside, making way for bright sunlight to radiate, allowing him to breathe. It was a nice feeling, for a change.

*****

 

It was eleven at night and Derek was still in the office discussing business strategy with Laura and a few other senior committee members. The result of the vote for the new chair were due the next day, but they still had a shattered corporation to take care of.

“Gosh, I’m so tired,” Laura muttered when everyone had left her office, letting  her shoulders slouch to emphasize her point. “When we get home Derek, I’m gonna sleep for a full ten hours. And consider this advance warning, if you dare to wake me up before that,” she stretched her mouth into a big yawn.

Derek rolled his eyes. He knew, Laura was required in the office tomorrow at six am sharp . But he didn’t tease her about that; she was actually looking pretty drained. Instead, he tried a lighter subject.

“I’ll probably play my guitar for a while.”

“What?” Laura exclaimed, watching Derek with a big, surprised eyes. “Now?”

“There’s no fixed time for anything, Laura. You do what you want in the moment-” Derek stopped abruptly, suddenly realizing that he was actually reciting Stiles’ line. He’d been doing that pretty often lately, like Stiles had captured his brain and mind totally. His face broke into a soft smile at the memory of Stiles. Stiles, who had also captured his heart, thoroughly.

“Oh my God!” Derek winced at the sudden squeak from Laura. He watched her, creasing his eyebrows, confused. “Derek Hale, are you really smiling right now? I can’t believe this.” She barged into his personal space.

“Well, someone recently told me that I’d got a smile like sunshine,” Derek tried to retort with a forced smirk. It was a mistake.

“It’s him, right? That Stiles boy?”

Derek’s heart skipped a beat on the sudden mention of Stiles’ name. He might have given a few details of his short trip to Laura and uttered Stiles’ name more than necessary. But he hadn’t expected Laura to join the dots, at least not so quickly. Was he being so obvious? He just watched Laura eyeing him suspiciously.

“Derek, I always knew you’re good at this, but today, you literally killed that meeting. You were out for one day with that boy and just look at you,” she moved her hand up to caress his cheek. “I haven’t seen you smiling like this since, since… well a long time ago,” she whispered searching Derek’s face with fondness. “I want to meet him and thank him in person. He’s a good influence on you Derek.”

Derek batted her hand away after a moment, unable to handle such a heavy dose of feelings from his bad-ass sister. But he couldn’t deny her.

******

 

“Derek, get up!”

Laura dragged his comforter off, hauling him up into a sitting position.

“What?” Derek shouted in a rough, irritated tone, eyes still heavy with lingering sleep. He managed to chance a glance at the clock which was flashing five am. He groaned loudly, it was only three hours since he’d  finally managed to crash.

“Deaton called. It’s you Derek,” Laura was jumping on his bed at five in the morning, which was quite a rare sight. “You are the chairperson of Hale Enterprise,” she cheered delightedly, raising her hands up in triumph.

“W-wait, what?” Derek stuttered, unable to process the sudden information. He was fully awake now, gaping at Laura with wide eyes.

“Yes, Der bear, you’re the next chairperson,” she repeated slowly and steadily, smiling at Derek with a toothy grin. “It’s not officially out yet, but Deaton was in charge and he just called to inform me.”

Derek was dumbstruck. He knew he was deserving but still doubted anyone would support him, he was just a Beta and a damaged one at that.

“Come on, get your ass up Mr Chairperson. Today is yours. We’ve got so many things in the pipeline. You need to address the staff, attend the meeting of the Stakeholders, take a handover and most importantly, we’ve got to select the Emissary. Today!” Laura reeled off the list while  pacing the length of the room, memorizing all the important things one by one.

Emissary was an essential post in the organization, which was generally appointed by the leader of the company. They were also the brains behind the leader’s pack and held significant importance, almost equivalent to the pack Alpha. For Derek’s father, it was his mother - Talia Hale, who had had to resign after the…incident.

“Do you have anyone in mind?” Laura asked, observing Derek thoughtfully.

“I uh…I was thinking of continuing with…Mom,” Derek replied hesitantly. Laura’s face suddenly went rigid at that suggestion. She was his Alpha after all and Derek wanted her full consent in this decision.

Laura didn’t talk and stood there clenching her jaw. Derek felt a sudden wave of mixed emotions from her - anger, irritation, hurt, sadness…

Derek immediately left the bed, walking to Laura and placing his hands on her shoulders. She relaxed a little, under the soothing touch of her brother.

“It wasn’t her fault Laura,” Derek crouched to meet her at the eye level. Laura swallowed, as if gulping down all the sharp replies she was thinking of shooting back.

“She surrendered to the rarest and ultimate form of love. She didn’t have a choice.”

Derek knew he was doing that thing again, reciting Stiles’ dialogue, but he couldn’t help it. It was so effective and honest, enough to touch your soul. He knew Laura would come around after a bit more persuasion and they would forgive their mother.

******

 

“You know Laura, I was thinking about something.”

Derek put down his glass of orange juice on the table and stared at Laura. She was busy swallowing her breakfast down hurriedly. They both had to leave for the office in a few minutes.

Derek had been on cloud nine since he had heard the news. It seemed like some kind of miracle. Just when he thought everything was falling apart, Stiles had entered Derek’s life with a bang, giving him hope, some sense, passing along his extra stock of positivity, turning Derek’s world upside down, all in a good way. Derek owed Stiles so much and while he was finally living his own dream and had some power now, he couldn’t help but think about Stiles’ dream.

“I was thinking about investing in a training institute for teens,” he started, judging Laura’s reaction carefully. She listened to him with her full attention, putting her fork down on the plate. “An institute where kids could choose a course of their own interest. No bias. No ranking.”

There was a silence in the room for a few seconds, before Laura suddenly broke into shocked amusement.

“That’s…that’s amazing Derek. Besides the institute will help us gain some funding and fame, the thought itself is so noble.” Laura agreed, welcoming the idea on the spot. “I mean, it could swing both ways. But I think we can take that risk. I don’t think we’ve got one of those in our state.”

Derek was pleasantly surprised that Laura had approved it so quickly. He hadn’t given a thought that this parallel proposal would actually help developing the reputation of Hale Enterprise; maybe because he was majorly focused on how important this was to Stiles.

“It’s not my idea actually,” Derek confessed, twitching his lips in a warm smile.

“Oh, don’t tell me it's Stiles again,” Laura did a double take when the realization hit her. Derek didn’t reply, but his lips spread wider. “That boy seems interesting. Can you just marry him or something as a personal favor to me? I mean, I haven’t actually met him, but I’m ready to take that risk just to see you smile like this…like some dumbstruck lover boy.” Laura enjoyed the way Derek struggled to reply.

“He’s not…I’m not…”  Derek knew he was never going to finish that sentence.

Marriage? It was an exceedingly impossible prospect, especially considering the current circumstances, but there was no shame in flushing that bright  shade of red when your nosy sister casually hinted at the idea, right?

 


	14. Challenges and Reunion

 

_Derek watched Stiles as he sprinted through the dark forest, disoriented, trying to dodge the vicious black wolf following him. The howl echoed in Derek’s ear, sharp, and the next moment Stiles was down, flat on the ground._

_“Fuck,” the boy huffed as his chest hit the hard surface. He didn’t move for a whole ten seconds, taking his sweet time to adjust, as if he was not at all concerned that he was currently being chased by a huge, ferocious monster._

_The wolf’s heavy panting felt like a steady background song to Derek’s ears, as the beast approached the defenseless boy slowly. Derek watched Stiles trying to push his body up on his elbow, ready to turn around. Derek was dying to see that face. He would have preferred witnessing it in a non-panicked, non-scared mode though._

_And… after a beat Stiles turned, blinking his amber eyes, gathering his long, sprawled limbs together, his pale face covered with dirt and lips curled into a smile._

_A smile!_

_There was not even the slightest tinge of fear on his face. Stiles was grinning at him…at the wolf._

Derek's eyes opened with a start. He was dreaming again, his lips twitched up in response to Stiles’ warm smile.

It was Derek’s routine now. He’d been waking up to the Stiles-and-wolf dream every morning, sweating and shouting out Stiles’ name since he’d returned home. Not that Derek had any issues with starting the day with Stiles’ name - it was a wonderful feeling that made  his heart flutter ridiculously every single time. But the dream had also triggered a few unsettling worries deep inside his gut and he’d been regretting his decision of leaving Stiles without making sure he was in good hands. The concern had been creeping through his mind, until today.

Today, after twenty two days, for the first time, Derek had seen Stiles’ _face_ in the dream. He had seen Stiles’ grinning face and thought; maybe he was just worrying pointlessly.

“Good morning, Brother,” Derek jumped at the sudden noise in his room. It was Laura. She strode in balancing a tray in her hands, barking out quick commands. The sweet  smell of chocolate pancakes tickled his nostrils and his stomach made a hungry grumbling sound. “Come on, get up. Eat this breakfast and get ready. Today we’ve a meeting with the Alphas and it’s really important for Nemeton,”

Nemeton. They had named the training institute ‘Nemeton’, Stiles’ dream institute.

Their team had already started outlining the plan to launch this institute. Since Derek was buried neck deep in Hale Enterprise work as the newly appointed Chairperson, he’d given charge of Nemeton to Laura.

Surprisingly, Laura had looked pretty involved, more than she’d ever been when handling their family business. It was seven in the morning but Laura was already dressed up in her work clothes, looking all excited and ready.

Today they were publishing the Nemeton website to gauge the public response, followed by a press conference where Derek would address the press and introduce Nemeton to the world.

Laura had been handling the staff and faculty recruitment. Derek had visited at least a hundred locations to choose the institution’s building plot. He’d also met many experts to decide the training plan and basically he’d been working his ass off for last three weeks with Laura, to turn this dream into reality.

Talia Hale had joined Hale Enterprise.

Calling Talia back was one of the best decisions Derek had ever made in his life. Being an experienced member of the organization, Talia had actually saved Derek a lot of trouble, allowing him some time to get involved in the Nemeton activities. She’d stood behind Derek firmly and guided him to secure the lost glory of Hale Enterprise.

Within a week, the company stocks had recovered more than a half of their previous value. After all, Derek Hale was indeed a good name in the market and news of Talia’s return had supported that very well. They had regained their clients and financiers and Hale Enterprise was back on track, almost.

Talia’s return had also improved Hale-family dynamics. Talia was their Emissary and in reality they hardly had an option. Laura was still a bit aloof around her, but things had been better so far.

Harris had resigned in the first week of Derek’s tenure as the Chairperson. His Alpha ego might not have allowed him to work under the secondary-ranked, damaged-Beta but he’d been highly non-cooperative, shamelessly ignoring the negative effects his attitude was having on the company. Derek had embraced his resignation letter in a more than welcoming manner.

Just when Derek thought that things were looking good, he was suddenly bombarded with appointment requests from the Demon pack.

The Demon pack was the multi-Alpha pack and everyone knew the pack was nothing but trouble for Nemeton. So as per Talia’s suggestion, Derek had avoided all contact. In no way was he  facing that pack now, not until Nemeton was up and running.

Derek had thought the plan of ignoring the problem was working, until the day they started receiving calls from anonymous numbers, mostly they were just complaints but a few of them were open threats against Nemeton.

Derek had filed an official complaint against the matter. However, the cops couldn’t do much as they didn’t have solid proof against anyone.

The calls didn’t stop. Someone was against their plan and desperate to see it fail.

Unintentionally, Derek had already gathered a few foes even before the institution opened. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to go against the defined format of society and he was ready to take the heat. Hale was a good name in their society but they also needed the alliance of other packs that would support the Hales against the possible opponents.

As a result, Deaton had fixed up Derek’s meeting today with Chris Argent and Satomi – the well-known Alphas of the state.

“Are you alright?” Laura stepped closer to his bed handing him the mug of hot, refreshing, black coffee. “You’ve been looking a little off in the mornings,” she searched Derek’s face with concern.

Derek knew she was referring to his early morning freak-outs over his dream. She must have noticed him when he’d rushed out at the odd hours for a quick run to cool off. He needed to discuss this with someone. He opened his mouth to start but clamped it shut, struggling over exactly what to ask.

“Just tell me!” Laura exclaimed, making an exasperated sound, her hands twitching  impatiently..

“It’s about my…my dream,” Derek muttered and sipped the coffee to refresh his sleep deprived brain, without meeting Laura’s eyes.

“What dream?”

“Every day now…I’ve been dreaming about Stiles.” The moment Derek finished that sentence he wished he could snatch it back. That had sounded a little…weird.

Laura’s lips immediately twitched up into a smirk. “Every day? About Stiles?” She asked in a teasing tone, quirking her eyebrows in question.

“I see him being chased by a wolf,” Derek retorted as if defending his purely platonic motives while dreaming about Stiles. It didn’t  help, so he decided to ignore Laura’s mocking question and continued. “I felt like I was right there with him, watching him run,” Derek moved his gaze away to fix it on the mug in his hands, watching the steam coming off, trying to recollect more. Stiles’ fond smile danced in front of his eyes like a constant flicker. He was day dreaming again.

“I’ve experienced these dreams before,” Laura whispered thoughtfully, snapping Derek back to reality.

“When?” The mug jostled in Derek’s hand, as it shook with surprise.

“When I’d turned eighteen,” Laura started but she paused, hesitating for some reason. “It was a uh…soulmate thing, when you start getting signs about your mate. You dream about them every day, just a few glimpses of their features and every time you feel like you’re right there with them but just don’t know who they really are,” Laura added, staring right into Derek’s eyes as if checking for his reaction very minutely.

“But I see him,” Derek objected, setting the mug down on the corner table a little hard, spilling some over his fingertips. Derek didn’t like the direction in which this discussion was heading. “Laura, you know I can’t sense my…soulmate.”

Laura winced on hearing that, stepping forward and reaching out for Derek, to touch, to offer comfort. She smelled all guilty that she’d even uttered that word in front of Derek. Derek let her caress his arm while he continued talking, just to prove to her that he was _okay_ and perfectly fit to handle the topic.

“It’s not a soulmate thing Laura. It’s about Stiles,” he asserted, quickly getting a grip over his speeding heartbeat.

“Oh,” Laura rounded her lips in a ‘o’ shape, thinking hard. After a moment, she squinted her eyes suspiciously. Derek matched her expression.

“So, the wolf’s attacking him?” she inquired.

“I don’t know Laura. I’m not sure,” Derek seriously had no fucking clue on this matter. Today he’d watched Stiles smiling at the wolf; maybe the wolf was not trying to eat the boy, or may he was.

Derek decided to let it go. He already had so many things on his plate that he thought they could just push thoughts of  this dream thing aside, for a while.

******

 

“Derek?”

Derek turned and was actually taken aback when he realized who was calling him.

“Mr Argent?” The surprise in his voice was evident. He was just returning from the meeting with the man and hadn’t expected to see him again so soon.

The meeting with Alphas was quite a success, in contrast to Derek’s initial suspicions. Argent and Satomi were sensible leaders and had supported the concept of Nemeton agreeing to the alliance for this noble cause.

“You can call me Chris,” Argent offered, approaching Derek with a friendly smile. Derek should smile back, he knew, but he couldn’t make his lips twitch when a member of their old enemy pack stopped him in the deserted parking lot. Derek switched to auto-alert instead. Maybe, Argent still had some issues with the plan which he couldn’t bring up in front of Satomi or the Hale pack, or maybe the man had other personal issues with Derek.

The alpha continued their quick chat moving ahead to stand right in front of Derek and Derek just listened. “I really appreciate that you considered my name for the alliance, even though our packs don’t share a very good history.”

Derek let out a breath; at least, Argent wasn’t here to start the war. He nodded in response letting his guard down a little.

“Nemeton will help the younger generation,” Derek finally opened his mouth to reply. “So I guess, our history shouldn’t be allowed to get in the way of the future. It’s for both of us…for all of us,” Derek clarified. Their conversation was going smoothly so far but he was still uncomfortable around the Argent and wished this was the end of their little talk. However, Chris didn’t look even close to finishing.

“I’m looking forward to this alliance and I’d like to help you with it,” he paused for a beat. “I’m not like my sister and I regret what she did to your pack and…you,” Chris added, finally mentioning the topic which he had been twitching to bring up since they had met today. He stared into Derek’s eyes with a determined glitter in them, like he wanted Derek to believe him.

Derek’s heart skipped a beat on a sudden mention of Kate Argent.

The Hales and Argents had killed each other in an ancient territorial war and Kate had avenged her dead ancestors by killing eleven innocent members of Derek’s family five years back, using Derek as bait. She had been sentenced to death back then, but Derek’s wounds were still unhealed and he wondered if they would ever fade completely

“I uh…Thank you,” Derek managed to mutter back, he just hoped Chris couldn’t smell his internal turmoil.

“Thank you for starting this,” Chris replied in a sincere tone, taking a step back. Derek was not sure if he meant the Nemeton or this unexpected association that could actually change the unpleasant dynamics between the two packs.

Derek was okay with either.

******

 

“Hello, Mr Hale.”

Just when Derek was about to unlock the car door, he was called, again. He totally expected it to be Argent – maybe the man hadn’t finished yet – but his nose didn’t smell the familiar musky scent, instead, it prickled with a strong spicy whiff that made Derek’s eyebrows crease in distaste.

As he turned around he smelled a few others, mingled like they belonged to a pack.

“Hello?” He casually replied, trying to scan the five faces standing in front of him. The one in the lead looked vaguely familiar, like Derek had seen that face on a television or in a newspaper or something…

_Deucalion!_

Derek felt his heart start thudding in his chest, loudly, as he recognized the man and his pack – Ennis and Kali, the two Alphas and the twin Omegas - the infamous Demon pack.

“Finally, I get the pleasure of meeting you,” the corners of Deucalion’s mouth turned up on getting the intended response from Derek. Behind him, Ennis cracked his neck and Kali smirked tilting her head, scrutinizing Derek. “Looks like you’ve been avoiding me, Derek.”

Derek didn’t reply. He didn’t like the way the Alpha had suddenly slipped into  using his  first name on just the second sentence addressed to him. His irritation took over the initial fear and he clenched his jaw, daring to glare at the Demon Alpha steadily.

“Oh my, just look at you,” Deucalion moved closer, sounding amused, but there was something in his scent which also told Derek that the Alpha didn’t like the sudden rebelliousness in Derek’s mood.

“Kali, you were right. He’s  just like his father,” Deucalion addressed his pack mate but didn’t shift his eyes away from Derek. “Brave but…stupid.”

“What do you want?” Derek hissed, gritting his teeth. He knew he was so close to losing control; his wolf was getting restless to attack. But he was not stupid. There was no way he would win over the multi-Alpha pack if he challenged them now, at least not all of them, together.

“I want  you to abandon your little plan for that little training institute,” Deucalion replied, jumping right to the point. “We’re the protectors of society and can’t allow anyone to disturb its defined rules. Do you even understand what you’re doing?”

“Do you?” Derek snapped on a reflex and watched the Alpha’s jaw muscles twitch in response. He made the Alpha lose his fake mask. But Derek was not stepping back now. He was done with the plan of avoidance and running away from a potential threat. The least he should do was stand by the plan when someone thought  they could just gang up on him and threaten him into changing his decisions. No.

“And don’t try to hide behind the false label of protectors. If you just look around and put your Alpha ego aside, you’ll see the importance of this institute. I mean, did you even ask your Omega’s opinion before running here and trying to bully me?” Derek chanced a quick glance at the twins standing at the back, looking like they didn’t belong there. Both of them immediately looked at their respective mates – Kali and Ennis – like they were asking for permission to react. For a moment, Derek felt bad for them.

“Our Omegas will do what their Alpha asks them,” Deucalion snarled, suddenly struggling to come up with a sensible retort when his own Omegas didn’t support him. “Those are the rules. That’s how the pack runs.”

“Those are your rules, Deucalion,” even Derek had started losing it now. “Not all packs twist the rules like you do. My pack had Omegas and Betas, and my Alpha never treated us like that.”

“You mean, your _dead_ Alpha and your _dead_ pack? Right?” Deucalion corrected him, huffing out a dry smug smirk and Derek felt a strong wave of fury creep up his spine hitting his brain, hard.

Derek roared, taking two steps,  barging ahead to stand right in front of Deucalion.

Deucalion shifted in response, eyes glowing ruby red, face changing to the mixed shades of blue and grey like some dark rain clouds. Derek had never seen a transformation so…wild. He couldn’t find any traces of _human_ when the Alpha fully transformed and rumbled right into Derek’s face in challenge.

Derek had heard stories of Deucalion. The lonely adult Alpha, who had remained unmated after losing his soulmate at a very young age. He’d also heard the theories about how unmated Alphas would go feral if they couldn’t find a suitable mate for a long time. Derek realized Deucalion was nearing that stage. The alpha was about to go wild with the significant lack of an anchor to control his wolf. But that couldn’t be an excuse to drag Derek’s deceased pack into the conversation like some toy to tease Derek with.

“Do you guys need some help?”

Their snarling contest broke with a sudden voice behind him. It was Chris. Derek’s head felt so foggy with anger that he didn’t move back, nor did Deucalion.

He heard the heartbeat approaching him quickly. There were three more, sounding distant but not too far away. He immediately recognized one. It was Laura.

Derek felt his head clear a bit, sensing his Alpha was nearby. Deaton and Satomi must be with her, Derek realised now. At the same time, Deucalion took a step back like he had also sensed the new participants. Derek watched him as he slowly dissolved into his human form.

“We were just having a small friendly chat,” Deucalion answered Chris without breaking his eye contact with Derek. “But I guess we can continue it later. Apparently, it looks like Mr Hale has  company today,” he added in a fakely polite tone, shooting a smile at Chris.

“Says the man who’s brought the whole pack for a small friendly chat,” Derek snapped copying the fake tone from Deucalion. He watched as a tiny vein on Deucalion’s forehead twitched with suppressed anger, ready to burst open at any moment. “And by the way, there’s no need to continue this conversation later. We’re going to continue it right now,” Derek hissed out. His gaze hovered over all the Demon pack members, one by one, halting on Deucalion.

“Hear me once and for all,’ he started with a serious tone. “I’m never going to stop working on Nemeton. I’m going to set it  up and make it work. So try and stop me if you can,” he said it, loud and clear.

Kali snarled somewhere from behind, maybe ready to pounce on Derek, but Deucalion stopped her, raising his hand.

“Oh no Derek,” Deucalion said in a cold tone, his brown eyes flickering with a dark glint, “I would definitely like to meet you sometime…alone,” he said it casually, still managing to make it sound like a warning.

Derek watched the retreat of the Demon pack, as they disappeared around the corner of a parking lot. Chris’ comforting hand on his shoulder helped Derek to relax.  For the first time, he got a hint of threat this plan was under.

He was a Hale - one of the established packs of this country - and still he’d had to face this verbal attack which could have so easily switched to being physical if Chris hadn’t been there. He couldn’t imagine if someone like Stiles had tried initiating this plan. It was dangerous.

He realized he’d got the best chance to settle this matter; he could use his power, his influence so others could live peacefully. Derek wasn’t going to retreat now. He would fight. He would try to make it work, for society…for Stiles and for many other second-ranking Betas like himself.

 

******

 

Derek returned to the Hale mansion with Laura, immediately after the quick face off with the Demon pack.

For the entire ride home, Laura had chewed his ear off, bugging him about the incident. He thought he’d managed the situation pretty tactfully (by challenging the feral Alpha) but his sister was not ready to let go.

Maybe it was the headache or the new threats overpowering his senses that meant he was taken by surprise when someone suddenly jumped on him, catching him off guard banging him against the wall behind, hard.

He snarled, turning into his werewolf-shift, baring his fangs at the angry Alpha. It took him a moment to recognize those puppy-dog brown eyes which were currently filled with utter fury.

“Scott?” Derek let out a surprised sound. Beside him Laura shifted to move between the two men, snarling back at Scott. “Laura, wait!” Derek yelled to stop her, before the Alphas could hurt each other. He didn’t understand why the sweet friendly boy - he had known from a few weeks back - would go so mad at him like this.

“Where’s Stiles?” Scott shouted at Derek when his hands lost their grip on Derek’s shirt as Laura heaved him behind her.

“What?”

“Just tell him, his pack’s here and I’ll kill him if doesn’t show up, right now,” Scott swallowed, stepping back from Derek’s space. His anger died out gradually. He smelled worried, instead.  And for the first time, Derek noticed the fourth person, placing a shaking hand on Scott’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly to calm the boy down, to hold him back.

“Mr Stilinski?” Derek gaped at the man, eyes wide. He was confused. Hadn’t Stiles returned to his pack yet? And why would anyone  ask Derek about Stiles’ whereabouts?

“There’s some misunderstanding Mr John…Scott.” Derek stuttered, struggling to come up with a convincing reply. “Stiles is not with me. I mean, I’d just met him on the bus that day…for the first time –“

“Really Miguel?” Scott snapped, cutting Derek off in the mid-sentence. “Or should I say Derek Hale?” Scott threw him a dark look, which Derek never thought the boy was capable of. “That day Stiles came home smelling like you. He lied to us about your identity. Jackson saw him scent marking you. You two ran away together the same night. Stiles left us a note saying he’s running away to mate a Beta. Today we saw you on TV announcing an institution which has been _Stiles_ ’ dream since he was twelve. And…you’re trying to tell me that you just met him on the bus for the first time!”  the Alpha bellowed.

 _Oh God!_ Derek was doomed.

“I uh…we…” Derek didn’t know how to finish that sentence. He ducked his head, desperately trying to think. He felt the weight of three heavy stares on him, Laura’s included.

“Derek,” Derek looked up on that weak call. He watched John moving forward as Scott made room for him. From this close, Derek could clearly see the dark circles around his tired eyes, like he’d hardly slept for days or maybe weeks. His pack member was missing, his son was missing. And Derek realized what this Alpha must have been going through for a few weeks now.

“Derek, just tell me that he’s okay,” The man started with a pleading voice, which twisted Derek’s gut badly. “Is he not feeling well? Has something happened to him? I mean, it’s not possible that Stiles would be  away for three weeks without even a phone call. He can’t sustain without talking to his pack even for a single day. We’ve scanned every inch of this State and still we couldn’t track him. So…so please tell me if he’s –“ John’s voice cracked. He didn’t…couldn’t complete that sentence.

“No. No Mr Stilinski, Stiles’ alright,” Derek blurted out without realizing he was not in a position to confirm that. But his sentence suddenly smoothed out the thick lines from John’s forehead. His thick gloomy scent cleared just a little. So Derek decided to continue.

“He’s just using some scent suppressors and he’ll return as soon as he turns eighteen,”

“That’s three days from now,” Scott said promptly looking at John for confirmation.

John let out a heavy sigh, slumping his shoulders in relief, like he had already lost hope but was ready to hold onto any tiny piece of information.

“Derek, I don’t think I can wait three more days,” he watched Derek with a weak helpless look. “I just need my kid back. I don’t fucking care what he’s planning on. I don’t care about society. I’ll agree to anything…anything he says.” John blindly searched for Derek’s hands, gripping tightly after finding them.

“I know my kid’s a rebel and he’s been running away from us for some reason and won’t listen if we try to approach him, so…” he paused, searching into Derek’s eyes like he was trying to look into his soul. “Can you please help us to bring him back?”

For a moment, Derek just stared at John – the strict, strong alpha he’d known a few weeks back. Derek couldn’t find _that_ Alpha in the man currently standing in front of him. Derek hated the vulnerable look on this Alpha’s face, begging Derek for his child. Derek swallowed the thick lump in his throat. He knew even Stiles would have hated to see his father like this.

On a positive note, Stiles’ plan of running away had actually worked. His father was now ready to allow him to mate anyone he wanted and Derek couldn’t see any further reason for Stiles to stay away from his pack. In fact, Stiles could now mate in the presence of his pack. And that would be even better than Stiles had initially planned for.

“Yes, I’ll help you,” Derek agreed, without a second thought.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I tried some stupid art for this fic. I have also added art in chapter 2, 5 and 8.  
> You can check them all on - [Tumblr ](http://loveactually-rps.tumblr.com/post/126256181826/when-we-met-wwm-chapter-14-posted-on-ao3)


	15. Stiles...

 

 

_Derek felt a sudden change in the wolf’s pace as it gracefully slid to a halt near Stiles._

_The Omega was sprawled on the ground, fumbling his limbs in an attempt to get up. Derek could hear the wolf’s rapid panting as if it was pleased to witness the intended result of their chase._

_The wolf was gigantic, enveloping Stiles with only the shadow of its upper body, like some huge, dark blanket. But Stiles looked undaunted, shooting his brilliant playful smile at the ferocious animal._

_The wolf made a huffing sound, trying to respond to the boy._

_Suddenly the outline of Stiles’ body flickered like it was just an illusion. And within the blink of an eye, the boy dissolved into thin air like he was never there._

_But Derek was sure that he’d noticed Stiles’ lips mutter something, looking right into the wolf’s eyes, just before he had disappeared._

_“Find me Derek,” the boy had whispered to the wolf._

 

Derek jolted awake from his quick nap, panting heavily, struggling to breathe. His hand outstretched, like he was trying to reach out for something. Someone.

“Are you alright Sir?” his driver – Michael – inquired, throwing a concerned glance over his shoulder.

Derek nodded in reply, slumping back into his seat.

After agreeing to help Stiles’ pack, Derek had decided to join them to search for him. But before they could leave together, John had received a call from the police informing him that they’d located a person matching Stiles’ description.

It made sense to separate. The pack went ahead to confirm the identification, while Derek headed towards Victor’s hometown - where he’d parted with Stiles, three weeks back.

They were almost there and Derek could feel his heart drumming crazily with the anticipation of seeing Stiles for real, and not just in his damn dream.

******

 

“Hi, I’m Derek Hale.”

Derek would have never believed it if anyone had told him that he was capable of going to some random apartment of a totally unknown person and saying something like – _‘Hi I’m Derek Hale’_. No.

For the entire journey up those eleven floors in the elevator, he’d chanted only one mantra – ‘for Stiles! for Stiles! for Stiles!’

He was freaking out now. Excited to meet Stiles, but definitely freaking out.

Derek watched the man as he gazed at Derek, initially in confusion then in realization.

“Oh hi. Derek Hale? As in Hale Enterprise?” the young man asked in an amused tone, his eyes going wide with surprise.

“Yes, I am,” Derek felt uncomfortable as the man’s eyes flickered over him, up and down, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “I’m here to meet St….Victor,” Derek added, correcting his sentence at a very last moment.

“I _am_ Victor,” the man took a step forward, smiling, stretching his hand out.

“Oh!” Derek huffed out, meeting the man’s hand in a quick handshake. For a moment, he closely scanned Victor – Stiles’ boyfriend.

“Is Stiles here?” Derek blurted out, jumping straight to the point, before he could radiate the awkward scent of jealousy or something pretty close to that.

“What?”

 _What?_ \- This was definitely not the response Derek was expecting from Stiles’ boyfriend on hearing his name. 

“Stiles….Stiles Stilinski?” Derek repeated, his eyebrows creasing, feeling confused and on the verge of getting worried. Very worried. Derek could sense something was wrong.

“Stiles’ not here,” Victor’s expression suddenly turned stoic, like he had passed the initial amusement of meeting some celebrity and now didn’t want the stranger to poke into his personal life.

“What do you mean Stiles is not here?” Derek hissed. He knew he should be polite, but his wolf didn’t care when someone so dear to Stiles addressed him with such a lack of interest. “I left him here three weeks ago. He came here to meet you,” Derek raised his voice, louder than necessary, enunciating his every word to force some sense into Victor’s dumb mind. Derek’s entire body shook with anxiety on finding that Stiles was not there at Victor’s place.

 

“Oh please! Don’t say it like it was _my_ mistake,” Victor yelled back, taking a defensive stance. “That day he showed up at my door, all unannounced, asking me to mate with him suddenly. He’s so…childish, like life is some joke to him.”

Derek felt a tense knot rise in his chest, ready to burst open. Victor continued like he hadn’t noticed. “My entire pack was here that day and they couldn’t approve of an Omega whose pack already had two Alphas. One of them is a True Alpha, by the way,” he looked at Derek like his explanation was enough to justify what he’d done. Derek didn’t move a muscle and just continued to glare at Victor.

“Our pack merger would have meant surrendering control to the Stilinski pack. But still…” Victor paused, maybe to breathe. “Still I managed to convince them to at least take Stiles in. And they agreed. But Stiles…He rejected the offer. He rejected being a part of my pack. It was  his decision!”

Derek knew any man who loved Stiles would never ask him to leave his pack. Any man who loved Stiles would never say that ‘Life is some joke to him’.

Derek had never met anyone, who had actually understood the beauty of life like Stiles had. Stiles was all about being optimistic and hopeful. He just didn’t realize that life could suck sometimes. And he had paid for being so naive.

“How could you do this to him? He loved you,” Derek muttered, like someone had drained the sound out of those words.

“I loved him too…and by the way, why are _you_ asking me all this? I never heard Stiles mentioning that he knew Derek Hale. What is your relationship to him?”

“A narrow minded person, like you, has no right to ask what relationship I share with Stiles,” Derek snarled, finding it tough to suppress his shift now. He dipped his head trying to get a grip over his uneven breathing. He felt sick. “Stiles is an unmated Omega…” he started hissing the words out, grinding his teeth. “He’s somewhere out there…all alone. We don’t even know where he is…or if he’s alright,” his voice cracked, emotions overpowering him as he mentioned the possibilities out loud.

“He’s alright,” Victor declared in a rush and Derek snapped his head up. “He calls me sometimes…to check if I’ve changed my mind. But he doesn’t get that it’s him who needs to-”

“Where was he when he called you last time?” Derek cut Victor off in mid-sentence, eyes going wide with a tinge of hope.

“Uh…Sunnydale,” Victor answered abruptly.

Derek remembered that town. He remembered the cheap motel in the squalid area where they had halted during their little trip. Derek’s entire body went stiff thinking about Stiles somewhere in that filthy, dangerous place, alone.

He turned on his heels, showing his back to Victor and almost ran towards the elevator.

“Let me know if Stiles changes his decision!” Victor shouted behind him.

Derek let out a loud grumbling sound, flickering his blue eyes and glaring at Victor, hard, like he might just rip his throat out, right there, just for uttering Stiles’ name.

*****

 

“Stiles!”

Derek shouted without realizing his voice wouldn’t go beyond the thick glass of the closed car window.

He blindly fumbled with the door handle without taking his eyes off of the boy, dreading that he might lose him again.

As he’d neared the town, Derek had felt the change in the air. He felt that familiar tug which he’d experienced when Stiles was around. He’d followed it, until his eyes finally tracked the red, plaid shirt which had been haunting his dreams, every single day for three weeks.

He rushed to get out of the car and marched towards the boy. It was indeed Stiles.

Derek recognized his brown hair which now looked messy and unwashed. That mole-dotted, pale skin which now looked dull. Those amber eyes which now looked unfocused and empty, with dark rings around them. Those curvy pink lips which now looked dry and chapped, that clumsy walk which now looked slow and faltering.

Stiles looked like a dead body walking.

Derek’s heart twisted in his chest like someone had stabbed him. He swallowed the thick lump in his throat and stopped dead in his tracks.

After a moment, he followed Stiles, matching his labored walk, all his energy giving out suddenly on the unexpected sight of the boy he loved.

Derek watched as Stiles grabbed his take-away bags from the counter, after the Barista had had to shout his name out three times.

Stiles roamed around the park watching kids play, without moving a single muscle on his face.

Eventually Stiles settled down on a concrete bench along the roadside to eat his food. His gaze followed the moving traffic, occasionally halting in the middle of a bite, zoning out.

Stiles strode around the crowded town, like a lost puppy that didn’t have any destination in mind.

He didn’t hear when Derek called out to him.

He didn’t sense Derek even when he passed within a few feet of him.

Derek’s eyes burned as he tried to hold back the tears. His wolf was crying out, growing agitated and hurt at seeing Stiles like…this. He clenched them shut, tight. He needed to calm down before his wolf decided to pounce on the boy and do something crazy. He stood there, unmoving, clasping his hands into tight fists, trying to find his breath.

“Derek?”

Derek’s head snapped up at the familiar sound.

Stiles was looking at him, wide eyed, lips twitching up for a second, trying a flickering half smile, like they were out of practice.

“Stiles,” Derek whispered, faintly, searching those amber eyes. He breathed, finally.

“Oh my G…what are you doing here Derek?” Stiles voice came out hoarse, maybe due to the lack of usage. Derek smelled a sudden spike of sweet amusement as Stiles walked towards him and that helped Derek’s wolf to settle down a little.

“I came to see you,” Derek replied, fond and soft, blinking at the boy like he couldn’t believe he was actually talking to Stiles.

This time, Stiles smiled, properly. His eyes turned glassy and Derek watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed hard.

“How did you find me?” Stiles asked, squinting his eyes in confusion.

“I met Victor,” Derek explained. Derek realized that was the wrong thing to say as he noticed Stiles’ expression suddenly turn rigid on hearing that name. His eyebrows creased in clear disapproval. “He told me what’d happened,” Derek added, hesitantly.

“Why are you here Derek?” Stiles asked in a flat tone.

A sudden aloofness from Stiles felt like a scorpion sting to Derek. He didn’t understand why Stiles was reacting so strongly even before hearing Derek out. “I’m here to take you back to your pack-”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Stiles hissed before Derek could finish his sentence.

“Stiles, you have to-”

“Oh, so now you gonna force me into it?” Stiles barged forward right into Derek’s space, growling and angry. His entire body started trembling uncontrollably.

“How did you find me, huh?” he snarled into Derek’s face, repeating his question again. “I’ve been on the strong suppressants for weeks now. I’ve smelled Scott and…Dad. They were here last week, they still couldn’t track me down but you, are you stalking me or something?”

“Stiles!” Derek shouted, gripping Stiles’ arms, tight. This conversation was  going all wrong. Derek wanted to tell Stiles that things were fine now. He wanted to tell Stiles that his pack was waiting for him, ready to accept him, unconditionally. But Stiles was not ready to listen to anything at all.

Derek held the boy back, allowing some distance between them, so he could see his face. He knew Stiles was not in the right state of mind and didn’t actually mean the things he’d said.

“I sensed you Stiles. Please believe me,” he muffled, low but sincere, looking right into Stiles’ eyes.

Neither of them spoke for a whole ten seconds, just gazed into each other’s eyes, judging the other.

“Go back Derek,” Stiles let his shoulders slump into Derek’s grip. He let out a heavy sigh, shuddering and tired, like he’d lost some fight. A fight with life. He flicked his gaze away from Derek and looked at the ground.

“You don’t have to fix my life for me,” he muttered as if he was speaking to himself.

“Says the boy who fixed my life for me?” Derek countered.

Stiles jerked his head up and looked at Derek warily, knitting his eyebrows together.

“Yes Stiles. I was a grumpy loser before I met you. I may have even ended my life that night when I first met you. You changed my life, Stiles. You changed me. You taught me to be optimistic. You taught me to follow my dreams. You showed me a whole other side of life,” Derek tightened his grip around Stiles’ arm and shook him, like that would wake the boy up from his gloomy nightmare.

“Look at me Stiles. I’m the fucking Chairperson of Hale Enterprise. I am a damaged Beta and now I’m a fucking leader of the country’s topmost organisation. Every time I think I’m going to freak out I try to imagine what _you_ would do in that situation…and it works, every fucking time. My mom’s back…Laura’s taking interest in the business. Fucking Deaton praises me every once in a while. They all feel the change in me, like I’ve evolved or something. And you know what...I’ve even learned to fucking lie. Can you imagine? It’s all because of you Stiles. You. Fixed. My. Life. So don’t you dare stop me helping to fix yours.” Derek paused; releasing Stiles with a light jerk, taking a step back.

Stiles didn’t respond. He just gaped at Derek with wide eyes, totally taken aback. After a moment, he blinked repeatedly, finally gathering his senses and opened his mouth to reply.

“Derek Hale, since when did you start cursing like that?” Stiles’ voice was laced with surprise which also had that typical mischievous edge.

Derek smiled when he got that glimpse of old Stiles...his Stiles.

“I told you, you’ve changed my life.”

Stiles huffed out a light laugh, shaking his head in amusement and Derek felt his tight chest loosen, like tons of weight had been lifted off it.

 


	16. Role Reversal

 

Derek watched Stiles who was sitting on the chair holding the menu card without actually reading from it. His gaze was fixed on the curvy design of the carpet, unfocused. He was supposed to be ordering dinner for both of them but he’d just sat there, unmoving, for the last twenty minutes.

Derek had booked a hotel room so Stiles could maybe freshen up before their return journey.

The Omega smelled stale, like he hadn’t taken a bath or changed his clothes for days. The way Stiles’ tired eyes had grey rings around them, Derek wondered, if he’d slept, even for a few hours, in last three weeks.

After their encounter in the market, Derek had explained everything to Stiles as the boy had calmed down gradually. Stiles’ mood had lightened a bit after knowing about the new development with his pack, but he still radiated depressed, uncertain vibes that didn’t fade even for a second.

Stiles almost had a panic attack when Derek asked him to call John.

“I broke their trust,” Stiles had mumbled, running his shaking hands through his rough hair, “How am I supposed to face them now?” he’d asked, his voice quivering.

“It’s your pack Stiles. They’ll understand.” Derek had reassured him, shoving the cellphone into Stiles’ hands. He had left the room, to give them some privacy or maybe Derek was just not ready to see Stiles so vulnerable and broken and crying, again.

When he’d returned to the room after half an hour, Stiles was still talking. His face was red and swollen and his voice had gone even more hoarse and nasal showing the after effects of hysterical crying. Derek had swallowed hard and was about to retreat when Stiles called and handed the phone to him.

John had sounded no better than Stiles and Derek had listened to his emotional breakdown for several minutes, silently. He knew the Alpha - who was currently at the opposite end of the state - must be dying to see his son.

John had agreed to meet them in the Beacon Hills which was kind of midway between their current locations.

 

So here they were, in a decent hotel room, deciding on their dinner and ready to check out as soon as Stiles looked fit to travel.

“Would you like to try the Mexican food?” Derek blurted out trying to grab Stiles’ attention.

The menu card almost slipped from Stiles’ grip when he winced at the sudden sound.

“Huh?” Stiles huffed, blinking his focus back to Derek. “Yeah,” he nodded absentmindedly and Derek wondered if he’d even heard what Derek had suggested.

“Chinese? Chicken dim sum?” Derek was desperately trying to get Stiles to talk.

This was an irony. Their roles had seemed somehow to reverse from what they were a few weeks back.

“Hmm,” Stiles hummed in reply, randomly flipping the pages pretending to read.

Derek let out a sigh, his attempts were failing miserably.

“Or maybe some….Zucchini vegetable soup?” Derek asked just to check if Stiles was even paying attention.

“Sure,” Stiles muttered, mechanically, which was almost inaudible even to Derek’s werewolf hearing.

“Okay, that’s it!”

Derek slammed his menu card shut and strode towards Stiles’ chair. “Come on, get up,” he grabbed Stiles’ arm and heaved him up from the seat.

“What?” Stiles yelped, staggering to his feet, clutching onto Derek’s shirt sleeve for support.

“We need to make one more call,” Derek declared, pulling his phone out from his back pocket, holding onto Stiles’ arm so the boy wouldn’t fall or something. He looked so breakable and Derek couldn’t think of anything else but getting ~~his~~ the Omega back in his previous, unscathed state.

“What call?” Stiles asked, squinting his eyes warily.

“Victor. What’s his number?” Derek demanded looking straight into Stiles’ eyes.

“What? No!” Stiles exclaimed. He jerked his arm out of Derek’s grip and took a step back in full protest. “He already thinks I’m some stupid kid and he won’t listen even if I beg -”

“You are not stupid,” Derek cut Stiles off in mid-sentence. He couldn’t accept the idea of Stiles begging anyone for anything, especially not _love_. His blood boiled in his veins on seeing Stiles so helpless and apprehensive and Derek thought, he might just kill Victor for doing _this_ to Stiles.

“Victor made you choose between your love and your pack. _He_ is an asshole,” Derek said firmly and gazed at Stiles, definite and reassuring.

Stiles snapped his mouth closed and stared back at Derek without uttering another word. Derek allowed silence to spread. He wanted Stiles to have those few quiet moments to reassess the reality, to start thinking clearly.

“Yeah, that he is,” Stiles whispered after a moment, sharp and cold.

“Great. Now call him and tell him that,” Derek waved the phone in front of Stiles, quirking his eyebrow expectantly.

“But…I uh…this is…” Stiles struggled for words. Derek ignored him and dialed the number anyway.

“Derek no…please listen to me…Derek…”

“Shush,” Derek quieted him with a finger on his mouth when the phone rang.

 ** _‘Hello?’_** Victor’s voice echoed in his ear.

“Hello Victor?” Derek reconfirmed, just in case. “One sec,” he offered the phone to Stiles, who refused to take it.

“Come on, just go for it,” Derek whispered. He shoved the phone into Stiles’ hands, wrapping his fingers around the warm skin. He gave a gentle squeeze, insisting, before letting it go.

Stiles swallowed, taking the phone hesitantly.

“Hello?” Stiles mumbled.

_**‘Huh?’** _

“Hello Victor?”

_**‘Stiles?’** _

“Yes, I uh…”

_**‘Was that Derek Hale?’** _

“Yes, he uh…”

“Come on!” Derek made an exasperated sound.

“Victor, I just…wanted to say that…” Stiles hesitated.

_**‘Yes Stiles?’** _

“Don’t think. Just say it Stiles,” Derek backed him up.

“Asshole…” Stiles blurted out, low and uncertain.

“Yes,” Derek punched the air.

_**‘What!’** _

“You’re an Asshole, you dick!”

_**‘Hello…Stiles!’** _

“You bastard!” Stiles spat, flaring his nostrils.

“Fantastic,” Derek encouraged him.

“What did you think…that if you ditched me, I was going to mourn your love for the rest of my  fucking life, huh?” Stiles hissed, grinding his teeth. He clutched the phone, tight, ready to split it in two. “I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do…I’m gonna break off an extra-large branch of Mountain Ash, wrap it in Wolfsbane, roll it in Mistletoe and shove it up your freaking ass, you son of a bitch,” he roared…and cut the call, ignoring Victor’s surprised shouts over the line.

Stiles stared at the floor, panting heavily like he had just returned from a long run. His face was flushed red after that quick blast of anger and emotions. He huffed out a heavy sigh and finally raised his eyes to meet Derek’s.

“Feeling better?” Derek asked, scanning Stiles’ face eagerly.

“Much better,” Stiles’ twitched his lips into a full wide smile and looked at Derek with glittering, glassy eyes. “Thanks,” he added softly after a beat, handing the phone back to Derek.

“Anytim -”

Derek was about to say a few  more words, but he was interrupted as the boy surged forward and pulled Derek into a bone crushing hug.

Derek was not prepared for this. He almost lost his balance as Stiles suddenly dropped his entire weight into his body. Instinctively, Derek clutched at Stiles’ hips, burying his fingertips into Stiles and adjusted his legs to balance their body weight.

Stiles sniffed, right into Derek’s neck just below his jaw and Derek shuddered in response. He felt Stiles’ fingers brush his back over his triskele tattoo, before fisting his hands in the back of Derek shirt, tightly. They clung together like this for a few moments, which felt like an eternity. The Omega’s thick, sweet scent hit Derek’s nostrils hard, fogging his mind with an inescapable want.

And then…Derek jerked his hands away, releasing his grip on Stiles’ body. He halted them in midair, hovering somewhere over Stiles’ back as they twitched with the need to touch, to grab.

He loved Stiles and his wolf was aching to claim him, right there. But Derek couldn’t do it. Not when said Omega was in such a vulnerable state.Stiles had been stranded, apart from his pack for weeks now and Derek knew he must be aching for their touch, their love and Derek was so ready to surrender, to offer everything that Stiles wanted, just…not now.

Not when Stiles was not in the right mindset to scent mark some outsider, like Derek. No.

Stiles must have sensed the change in Derek. He suddenly went stiff and after a moment, uncurled himself from around Derek, slowly.

“I uh…I’m so sorry,” Stiles murmured, taking a step back, scratching a back of his neck. He flicked his gaze over Derek’s wrinkled shirt, unable to meet his eyes. He gave off a thick whiff of embarrassment and looked more awkward that Derek had ever seen before.

“Uh…it’s alright. No problem,” Derek blurted out, quickly, moving his eyes anywhere but at Stiles. “Are you hungry? I’m hungry. I think we should order our dinner now,” he said, desperately trying to switch the topic.

“Yeah...yeah we should do that,” Stiles nodded, repeatedly, showing his full support.

 


	17. The Visitor

 

“Good morning, Mister Chairperson.”

Derek stilled his hands, which were busy gathering his scattered stuff, on hearing Stiles’ cheerful, teasing voice.

After eating dinner the night before Stiles had lain down on the coach to relieve his tired body only to doze off within five minutes. Derek knew they should continue their journey, but he couldn’t bring himself to disturb the boy who had looked so relaxed and calm for the first time since they’d met.

Instead, Derek had tucked a pillow under Stiles’ lolling head, covered him with a comforter and brushed his fingertips over Stiles’ forehead to push back the strands of his hair.

Derek had settled down on the room’s spacious double bed, all alone. Now that the Omega was right in front of his eyes, Derek realized that he’d missed him way more than he was prepared for. He wondered how much time he had left with Stiles before they’d have to separate, permanently this time.

He’d watched Stiles’ peaceful face and listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat and quiet snoring, until his own eyelids gave up fighting the inevitable slumber.

 

“Good morning,” Derek chanced a glance at Stiles and dumped his shirt in his bag. It was a pleasant surprise to hear Stiles’ chirpy voice all over again and Derek’s lips twitched up automatically in reaction to the contagious happy vibes that radiated from him.

“So you are finally living your dream now. That’s so cool,” Derek didn’t stop packing. He watched Stiles from the corner of his eye, as the boy leaned on the frame of the bedroom door, stretching his limbs in all possible directions. Derek’s ears twitched on the word _dream_ and for a moment, he hesitated if he should tell Stiles about Nemeton.

“I’m kind of also living _your_ dream too, Stiles,” Derek stated, turning to face him with a playful smirk on his face.

“Huh?” Stiles huffed, knitting his eyebrows together and staring at Derek in confusion.

“Laura is actually looking into building an institution which will train young werewolves all they want. No ranking. No bias,” Derek explained, slowly and steadily, watching every muscle of Stiles’ face as they twitched in response. “We named it Nemeton.”

Derek could actually make out the moment when his words finally hit Stiles’ brain. His face flickered with a variety of expressions within a span of a few seconds, from confusion, to surprise, and bliss and finally…total awe.

“Nemeton,” Stiles repeated, his voice low like a whisper, gaping at Derek with wide eyes. His face suddenly melted into something so _soft_ that for a crazy moment Derek thought Stiles was going to pounce on him one more time, like the previous night. Yes, he was prepared this time.

“Derek…” the sound that escaped Stiles’ mouth next, pulled several strings in Derek’s heart. His name had never sounded so sensual in his entire lifetime. Stiles walked towards Derek, his hands twitching desperately like he didn’t know what to do with them.

“I can’t even….you…just…Thank you for doing this…for me,” Stiles finally managed to get words out which made some kind of sense .

“No. No Stiles. You don’t have to thank me for this,” Derek protested. “In fact, thanks you for coming up with such a brilliant thought. When I told Laura about it, she immediately supported the idea. Our Nemeton website received such a wonderful response that it actually crashed our servers on the first day of its launch. We’ve almost finalized the plot and Laura is looking after the recruitment-”

“I know you love me Derek.”

Derek felt his heart stop beating. He blinked at Stiles, in utter shock, snapping his mouth shut. He didn’t know what to reply. Well, he could just leap out of the open window. Yes, he should definitely do that, Derek thought.

“I heard you when you left me at Victor’s place…that day,” Stiles muttered, low but sincere, his gaze still fixed on Derek, careful and searching. Derek had conveniently forgotten their previous encounter and had been hoping that it would never come up ever again.

But here he was, standing in front of Stiles, like some stupid open book. He knew Stiles must be listening to his heartbeat which was rabbiting crazily. Stiles must be sensing Derek’s _everything_. His intense gaze was already poking holes into Derek, making him duck his head.

He knew he was thoroughly doomed,  he’d confessed his love to an Omega who couldn’t love him back. He let out a heavy sigh and tried to gather all the courage he had. There was no point in denying it, Derek knew that as well.

“Yes, I do.”

Derek admitted, raising his head to meet Stiles’ eyes, head on. “But…” he continued after a beat. “That is _my_ problem and you don’t have to worry about it Stiles. I can handle it,” he nodded to answer all Stiles’ unasked questions, to reassure him that it was _alright_ if he couldn’t reciprocate Derek’s love.

Stiles blinked repeatedly as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard and Derek didn’t quite understand why Stiles’ heart had suddenly fluttered.

“Come on get ready. Your pack is waiting for you,” Derek clapped Stiles on the arm, casually, like nothing unusual had happened between them.

Stiles just stared back.

He tried to shoot a smile at Derek, while the man continued doing his packing, adjusting the folds of an already neatly folded shirt, leaving Stiles no other option but to go to the bathroom and get ready.

Derek didn’t miss Stiles lingering in the doorway for a second. He looked at Derek like he wanted to say something, but he turned away reluctantly and slid through the door.

Derek didn’t get a chance to wonder about that reaction as his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Initially Derek didn’t recognize the unsaved number, but a sudden wave of annoyance crept up on him as he realised who the caller was.

He almost thought of disconnecting the call, but he couldn’t.

******

 

_Derek felt the wolf advance towards Stiles, treading silently._

_His massive paws dug into the forest floor a few inches under his enormous weight. The wolf felt agitated as if he knew something unpleasant was approaching. He was right._

_The smile on the Stiles’ face turned into a tormented scream as another pair of clawed hands tugged at his shoulders and dragged him away into the creepy darkness of the forest._

_And…the wolf howled, in pain, in agony._

 

“What are you doing here?”

Derek jolted awake from his nap on hearing Stiles’ surprised gasp.

He gathered his limbs together, straightening on the chair he was currently sprawled across. His heart drummed in his ears, frantically, even though he was certain who must be out there at the hotel room door, making Stiles so mad.

“Stiles, just listen to me Stiles…”  

Victor followed Stiles inside the room.

“What do you want Victor?” Stiles barked. “Are you going to get back at me? Insult me? Insult my love? How did you even get in here?” Stiles snarled, shooting quick fire angry questions at the man, like bullets.

Victor retreated, unable to take Stiles’ wrath and warily looked in Derek’s direction.

 _Fuck!_ Derek cursed internally, hoping that Victor wouldn’t mention his name. The man had called Derek and literally begged him to help out. Derek had growled in reply, fierce and threatening, thinking Victor would just piss his pants and cut the call himself. But Victor hadn’t.

He’d told Derek that he was already in Sunnydale and pleaded with him to tell him Stiles’ whereabouts as the boy had totally refused to pick up his calls. He’d told Derek that he’d screwed up before but was willing to fix everything now. How he was regretting his decision to test Stiles’ patience and to force him to leave his pack.

He’d told Derek that after seeing him by Stiles’ side, he’d dreaded that he was going to lose Stiles. Being one of the finest breeds of Omega, he knew Stiles could easily move on with anyone he wanted and being a Beta, he knew he  should have valued having Stiles in his life and how badly he wanted his boyfriend back.

For one moment, Derek had thought that he was about to crush his phone, again and the next moment, he’d felt his legs giving out from beneath him like the spark of life had been drained from his soul.

Everything was going the way Stiles had always wanted. Stiles loved Victor and the asshole loved him back. Stiles’ pack was waiting for him, ready to welcome him home with his mate. Everything seemed so perfect, like some happily-ever-after tale. It was only Derek who didn’t fit in.

Derek was a _damaged_ beta who wore misery like his favorite leather jacket.

Derek was cursed. Everything _happy_ around him ended in _despair_ , every single fucking time and Derek was okay with that. Somehow he’d gotten used to his gloomy life. He’d used it as an excuse to stay aloof from society which hardly accepted him for what he was.

But Stiles…he was a jumping ball of happiness, an unceasing flow of positivity and Derek would never want him to suffer along, not when he had another option.

 

“You?” Stiles suddenly whirled on Derek, marching towards him, jerking his shoulder to bring them face to face. “You told him where we are? Derek, you?” Stiles looked like he’d been betrayed or something, his entire body was shaking with overpowering anger.

“He wants to apologize Stiles,” Derek retorted, raising his voice over Stiles’. “He feels guilty for what he’s done to you. He’s even ready to leave everything for you.”

So this was Derek’s life now - confessing someone else’s love to the man he was deeply in love with himself. He should have seriously jumped out of that window when he had a chance.

But Derek knew Stiles was angry and couldn’t think rationally at the moment.

“Stiles,” Derek lowered his tone. He leaned forward reaching a hand out for Stiles’ shoulder, offering him a soothing touch, to make him stand straight, to make him _think_ straight.

Derek felt Stiles’ tight muscles relax under his palm. The boy emitted a dense scent of hurt and confusion. Of course Stiles was hurt, from what Victor had done - rejecting Stiles when he was pleading for his love and suddenly accepting it when finally he was about to move on.

But confusion? Derek wondered why.

From this close, Derek could see how long Stiles’ eyelashes were as they fluttered unnecessarily, shadowing his pale cheeks. Derek could count every mole on Stiles’ jaw and down to his neckline. Stiles’ big pink open mouth…Derek cleared his throat, to get a grip, to return his focus back to the topic of convincing Stiles. He swallowed.

“Your pack is waiting for you…and your intended mate,” Derek added after a beat. “Don’t rush into making a decision which you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes, staring into Derek’s for a long moment before they darted  away; biting at his lips as if Derek had just caught him making some miserable blunder.

Derek heard an uncomfortable shuffling from nearby. Of course Victor, he was still there. Derek moved his gaze over to him. He was standing there in awkward silence, witnessing their exchange, throwing wary glances at both of their hands which were still clutching at each other’s shoulder.

Derek jerked his hand back, dropping it to his side.

“Come on Stiles, just talk, okay?” he murmured insistently and moved away from Stiles’ hold. “I’ll be waiting down at the car.”

Derek shot a warning – _you hurt him and I’ll kill you back_ \- glance at Victor, before leaving the room to give them some privacy.

 _You freaking idiot!_ His wolf howled out in frustration the moment he closed the door.

Derek wanted them to sort out their issues, but somewhere deep down, he stupidly hoped that they wouldn’t.

 

******

 

Derek felt his heart sink as he watched Stiles approach the car with Victor. He knew this would happen, his life still sucked, after all.

He noticed Victor’s bag for the first time, the asshole came prepared, as if he knew Stiles would forgive him and accept him and _just whatever…_

The return journey of two hours was rather dull, except for Victor’s futile attempts at conversation.

The man settled down comfortably in the passenger seat, next to Derek’s driver - Michael and emitted blissed out scent trails into the air of the car. Knowing the reason, it choked Derek and burned into the very core of his lungs. His wolf wanted to break free, right there and run for miles as if he’d gone feral, until he got his haywire senses under control.

Derek ignored the concerned glances Stiles frequently threw his way .

Stiles looked _okay_. He wasn’t radiating those sad vibes from yesterday, but he also didn’t look as cheerful as Victor. In fact, he was unnaturally quiet throughout the journey as if he was in deep thought, or just feeling sleepy maybe, Derek couldn’t be sure.

Somehow, Derek managed to survive the journey.

As they entered the driveway of the Stilinski house, Derek smelled the distinct scent of at least seven or eight. No, nine werewolves. Alphas and Omegas and not just from the Stilinski pack.

When the car halted, Stiles didn’t make any attempt to get out. He sat there uneasily, fiddling with his fingers.

“Stiles…” Derek called out, soft but steady. Stiles shook his head vigorously, pleading, indicating he was not ready to get out and face his pack. Not yet.

“It’s okay. They are pack, remember?” Derek reached out and placed his warm hand on Stiles’, giving him support until the shaky wave of apprehension had gradually subsided.

“Stiles!”

Stiles’ head snapped up in the direction of the source, as his Alpha called out and ran towards the car.

The next moment, Stiles was out and had taken a couple of stumbling steps towards John. Derek saw that he was about to fall flat on his face, but before Derek could move, Stiles’ father had grabbed him in his firm embrace, steadying him and supporting him and scenting him.

“I’m so…sorry…Dad!” Stiles choked on his words, burying his face into John’s shoulder and crying like a lost child. “I ran…I broke your…sorry…please…”

“Shhh…it’s alright…it’s alright…you’re fine…” the Alpha tightened his arms around Stiles and circled his palm over the boy’s back in a soothing motion to calm him down.

They both stood there clutching at each other, trembling and crying and no one spoke a word.

Derek had to look away. He swallowed the thick lump in his throat and blinked back the tears from his own eyes.

“Don’t worry Kiddo,” Melissa approached them, swiftly replacing John. She pulled Stiles into a warm cuddle. “I’m so happy that you’re back.”

“But I’ll kick your ass if you try that again…ever,” Scott cradled Stiles from behind, enveloping both Melissa and Stiles in his big Alpha hug.

“Stiles!” A skinny, dark haired Omega scooted her way between Stiles and Scott, fitting in with ease, like she belonged there. Kira Yukimura, Scott’s girlfriend, Derek remembered.

“You doofus, you could have come to me,” a short, strawberry blond haired Omega smacked Stiles on the head, avoiding hitting others skillfully, like she did this with her morning coffee every day.

“Ly..Lydia,” Stiles stuttered, his voice came out rough and strangled, from crying, from surprise.

“I’m invited here for your mating ceremony Stiles,” she explained, twirling a loose curl around her finger.

“Wh-what?

“Yeah, it’s your eighteenth birthday tomorrow and the ceremony is on the full moon in two days. So I’m here to help with the preparations.”

“Don’t worry Stiles we’re all set,” Melissa butted in, noticing the sudden worry clouding his face. “Two days are more than enough.”

“And where are you hiding your precious mate, huh?” Lydia teased. “Come on, I’m dying to see him.”

They all broke apart a little, to turn and look at the car.

“Oh, there he is!” John exclaimed, delightedly, before Stiles could open his mouth.

Derek noticed that Victor straightened on hearing those words, getting prepared to meet his future in-laws, his extended pack. He beamed at all of them, flashing his toothy grin.

Derek took a step back, shifting behind Victor, suddenly realizing that he didn’t belong there. In fact, he was sure that he should have left the moment he’d dropped Stiles home. But he uselessly thought that maybe John would want to share a few words to him. Or maybe Scott would want to clap a hand on his shoulder, especially after their last encounter which had been quite rough.

He ducked his head and tried to hide his scent. He hesitated over the thought of waiting there or turning back to the car, before the Alpha walked right into his personal space and wrapped his arms around Derek, pulling him into a tight hug.

“Thanks son,” John murmured, his voice overwhelmed with emotions and gratitude. “Thanks for bringing him back. I’m not surprised that he loves you so much.”

_Wait…what!_

It took thirty whole seconds for Derek to finally register those words. He froze in John’s embrace and desperately scanned the surroundings to locate Stiles.

_Oh hell!_

Derek could practically hear the words which were currently illustrated by Stiles’ shocked face.

 

 


	18. His Eighteenth Birthday

 

The Stilinski house slowly began to fill with extended and affiliated pack members and every single person literally jumped on Stiles…and Derek. They were all there to welcome Stiles home and join the celebrations of his eighteenth birthday.

John had also planned a mating ceremony for Stiles as his surprise birthday gift, a token of apology, a token to show his son that _he cared_ and was willing to accept him no matter what.

For the first thirty minutes, Derek was passed from one member to another like some kind of parcel. Each one of them hugged him, patted him, stroked him, sniffed him, kissed him and just drowned him in their overflowing love and affection. And for the first time in five whole years, since the fire, Derek got a true sense of _pack_.

Derek’s gaze floated over the crowd trying to track Stiles. He had been dragged to the opposite corner of the house, where a group of old ladies were trying to cuddle the shit out him. He shot Derek a few desperate, pleading glances signaling him - _sorry_ or _please_ or _I’ll-fix-everything-but-not-now -_ Derek wasn’t sure.

Derek also got a glimpse of Victor who looked as if lightning had struck his brain, completely out of place holding all their bags in his hands. He stood there, unmoving, watching Stiles, then Derek, then Stiles again, confused and frustrated.

 _‘This is not real,_ ’ Derek tried to remind himself. It was just a misunderstanding which would be clarified soon. They all were just confused.

Derek tried to recollect his last conversation with Stiles’ pack. Yes, he had dutifully informed them that Stiles was not with him. But the way things were looking now, he realized, they hadn’t believed him, at all. Not after they’d fruitlessly hunted Stiles for three weeks whereas Derek had managed to locate him in a few hours.

If Derek recalled correctly, he had also provided them with the exact details about the boy – like his usage of suppressants and his precise plan about returning home after his eighteenth birthday - which, by the way, he had never shared with his own pack, not even with his BFF, Scott McCall.

Derek also distinctly remembered Scott’s hands - choking his neck - and the Alpha’s entire monologue on _why_ he couldn’t believe that Derek had met Stiles on the bus for the first time.

Derek knew he sucked at explanations, but he also thought Stiles’ pack would definitely fill in the gaps and somehow understand that DEREK WAS NOT STILES’ BOYFRIEND…OR HIS MATE…OR HIS ANYTHING, AT ALL!

Someone shoved him down on the couch in the living room.

“Your eyes are pretty,” Stiles’ five year old cousin, Hayden, comfortably settled down on Derek’s lap. “Would you mind showing me your real eyes?”

Derek looked down at her, shaking out of his daze. For a moment, he didn’t understand how to respond.

“You can see mine, if you want,” Hayden’s beautiful brown eyes flashed golden yellow and immediately switched back, flickering uncontrollably. The pup must still be learning to control her shift. She grinned at Derek and Derek’s lips twitched up automatically in response to the cuteness in front of him.

“Umm,” Derek scanned the room to check if anyone was watching. He was quite relieved to find that the majority of the attention was currently on Stiles. He’d managed to knock over an expensive, ancient vase brought by one of the elder Alphas as his mating gift.

“Okay,” Derek agreed and watched as Hayden’s eyes widened in excitement. He took a moment, concentrating and shifted his eyes to flash electric blue.

“Whoa!” Hayden exclaimed, blinking in amazement. “I never saw blue eyes before,” she reached out to touch Derek’s cheek, leaning forward, to get a closer look.

“Stiles!” She suddenly screeched and Derek’s heart skipped a beat.

He hurriedly changed his eyes back. He could feel the room go quiet, throwing  curious glances towards them. Stiles sneaked a peek in their direction through the crowd around him, cocking his eyebrows in question.

“Are you sure you want to mate him?” Hayden asked, raising her chin in an attempt to look tall.

“Why hon?” Stiles squinted at her, his voice low and careful, surprised by the unexpected query thrown his way.

“Because if you don’t…then I can.”

The entire room broke into thundering laughter at Hayden’s thoughtful reply. And then, over that loud sound, Derek could swear he heard Stiles’ muttered reply which vaguely sounded like – _“Yes I want to.”_

Derek snapped his head up to look at him. Stiles was staring back, a mischievous smile playing around the corners of his mouth.  

He must be just playing along, Derek thought.

******

 

After almost an hour, Derek finally managed to free himself from the over enthusiastic Stilinski guests. He was on his way back from the kitchen after having a glass of water, when he was suddenly dragged inside one of the nearby rooms.

“Stiles…”

Derek breathed out a sigh of relief as Stiles shoved him further in and hastily locked the door behind.

“Hey…hey Derek, I’m so sorry,” Stiles started in a sheepish tone. He walked towards Derek, hands flailing everywhere in exasperation, “Everyone’s jumping on you. This is crazy. I don’t know how they…how they even…” he bit his lip, embarrassed, struggling to complete the sentence.

“No, it’s me,” Derek interrupted and Stiles snapped his head up to look at him, squinting in surprise. “I didn’t clarify when I met them the last time and now it’s all…it’s all a...” Derek paused to find the correct word, “…Mess.”

The way Stiles’ expressive face flattened instantaneously, Derek knew, it was not the _correct_ word to use.

“You think this is a mess?” Stiles asked, voice soft and wavering.

_What?_

“Don’t you?” Derek blurted out, confused, searching Stiles’ wide eyes which looked puzzled and…hurt.

“I thought you…uh…you…” Stiles hesitated for a beat and dipped his head on the next, as if he couldn’t meet Derek’s eyes any longer. His heart stuttered like a mouse, his pale cheeks flushed an adorable shade of pink and Derek couldn’t take his eyes off the sight.

“Stiles!”

They both jumped at the sudden interruption.

“Come on, open up!” Someone banged the door from outside. “We’ve got a house full of guests waiting for you two, you can’t just sneak out.”

“Lydia, are you sure they’re inside?”

“Of course Kira, I can smell them in there,” Lydia sounded very certain. “Scott, just check if you can hear them with your Alpha senses.”

“What? No!” Scott exclaimed. “I’m not going to listen to them making out.”

Derek felt his ears burn at the imaginary. He desperately tried avoiding Stiles’ gaze who looked not-so-happy with his pack mates for making him leave the conversation hanging.

“I’ll talk to Dad and clear this…mess,” Stiles mumbled, adding some coldness into the last word that Derek didn’t quite understand. He waited for Derek to nod, before opening the door for his pack.

“Mom’s calling you for dinner,” Scott informed him from the doorway, while Lydia and Kira walked inside.

Lydia eyed both of them, smugly, with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“You two will get plenty of time to do _stuff_ later, but let’s get on with the business first.”  She turned to Stiles and shoved at his arm. “Stiles, go on. Have your dinner. Derek is safe with us,” she pushed him till he was completely out of the room, ignoring the uncertain glances Stiles shot at her.

“What’s that?” Derek exclaimed as he noticed the item in Kira’s hands for the first time. He stared at it as if he was watching some alien with a third eye protruding from its forehead.

It was a flower crown, made up of shiny, delicate silk blooms of red and white, with tiny green leaves intertwined.

On any other day, it would have been the cutest thing Derek had witnessed in a long time, but not today. Not when Kira moved onto her tiptoes and swiftly hooked the _thing_ onto his head.

Derek didn’t even get a chance to blink.

“Aww…I knew it would fit,” Kira squealed in delight and Stiles stumbled into the room, again, pushing past Scott.

Stiles let out a surprised gasping sound and gaped at Derek, dumbstruck, like he was having a moment.

“You idiot, it’s a part of the mating rituals. You’re not supposed to see it yet, out…Out!” Lydia kicked Stiles out of the room and banged the door on his stunned face this time.

Derek snatched the crown out of his hair and stood there awkwardly, trying to bury himself under the curious gazes of the two beautiful Omegas. He knew things were getting way out of control now.

But given the chance, Derek would pay to see that look on Stiles’ face - looking back at him, thunderstruck and fond and soft- like he was in love or something.

******

 

The dinner with the Stilinski pack was surprisingly good, with the hungry pack mostly concentrating on the food, except, when John insisted Derek invite his pack for the Mating ceremony.

Derek choked.

There was no way Derek would involve Laura in this chaos. He knew his Alpha would arrive like a devastating hurricane and turn everything upside down, mostly starting with kicking Victor’s ass, followed by his own.

He darted an uneasy, inquiring glance at Stiles. The boy blinked at Derek and swallowed down a whole piece of chicken wing, indicating he hadn’t spoken to his father to clarify yet.

Great -

As the night drew on, all the affiliated pack members dispersed into the row of houses, booked for the ceremony for two days. That left only the Martins and the Yukimuras in the Stilinski house.

Derek had to share the guest room with Victor, who looked quite settled after his initial wave of panic. If he had had a word with Stiles on anything, Derek couldn’t be sure. The man passed out on the bed the moment they entered the room.

Derek couldn’t sleep. He would blame Victor’s uneven snoring for it, Derek just hated everything about him now. But he knew that was not the actual reason.

Derek’s wolf had never felt so agitated in his entire life. It was lunging close to the surface of his skin, ready to leap out. Derek wandered outside, into the garden, to breathe some fresh air.

He knew Stiles must have managed to talk to John by now. Things would be conveyed to everyone properly by morning and Derek had his bag packed. He was all set to get the hell away from Stiles’ life.

But this time, he would share his phone number with Stiles. He would love to talk to him once in a while, or just listen to his voice. Derek was sure that Stiles would like to hear about Nemeton. He could guide them with his brilliant ideas. He could also join them, probably. Derek was so counting on that.

Derek heard low murmurs and excited shuffling from inside the house. It was midnight and the pack was getting ready for a quick midnight birthday blast for Stiles. From the sudden cheers that burst from the room upstairs, Derek realized, they must have already started.

Stiles had turned eighteen today and Derek was happy for him. Derek knew he should join the fun, but his restless mind couldn’t bring his legs to move. He was also afraid that he would shift in the middle of the room, surrounded by Stiles’ pack.

“What are you doing here, Derek?”

Derek winced at the sudden sound. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he hadn’t sensed that Scott had joined him in the garden.

“Stiles is looking for you. Come on. Let’s go,” Scott added, smiling. He didn’t move until Derek finally dragged his feet forward and followed him into the house.

 

“But he is _the_ Hale.”

Derek halted when he heard an abrupt mention of his family name. His ears twitched in an attempt to catch more. The voices came as low whispers, from somewhere near the kitchen. It actually surprised Derek to find someone in the kitchen when the entire pack was in the Stiles’ room, celebrating.

The Martins, Derek identified the source instantly. He also heard the clattering of dishes and spoons, so they might be just preparing for the midnight treat.

“I don’t care if he’s a beta, but he’s _damaged_. John didn’t mention that to us,” Mr. Martin tried to cut his wife’s arguments.

“Oh Patrick, you should in fact thank him. He claimed Stiles and now Jackson Whittemore is available for our Lydia.”

“Yeah, but…but how _safe_ can Stiles be with a damaged soul? I’m seriously worried about him.”

Derek felt his gut twist.

They were talking about him. They were calling him unsafe…for Stiles. A sharp pain cut through his chest. Yes, he was damaged, but he was not a monster, for Christ sake. He would die before he could even think of hurting Stiles in any way.

The vein on Derek’s forehead twitched with the boiling anger trapped inside. His wolf was going crazy. Derek clenched his jaw and balled up his fists, to force the control. He didn’t want to shift now. He shouldn’t.

“Derek…” Scott gently squeezed his arm and tried to move him away from the spot. “Please…”

The way Scott’s voice faltered, Derek knew he had heard them too. “I’m sorry. They didn’t mean to…please ignore them. Please, for Stiles?” he begged.

Derek gazed into Scott’s eyes, judging, uncertain.  And Scott held his gaze, apologetic but reassuring. He squeezed Derek one more time.

 _For Stiles,_ Derek swallowed. He didn’t reply. He knew he would pop his fangs out if he moved his mouth. But he let Scott tug him somewhere upstairs not registering where over the melancholy clouds that had enveloped his mind.

******

 

Derek swiftly freed himself from Scott’s grip when the Alpha tried to haul him inside Stiles’ room.

“I’m okay,” Derek muttered, so Scott could carry on.

The small room was already overflowing. Kira’s parents were still lingering at the entrance, peeking inside curiously to get a better look.

“Well, get him in,” Derek heard Stiles’ desperate demand.

“He’s uh…” Scott hesitated.

“Derek!”

_Fuck._

Derek heard the approaching heartbeat. He inhaled sharply, trying to get his shit together. He couldn’t afford to lose it. Not in front of Stiles on his special occasion.

 

“Hey,” Derek breathed out. Stiles was beaming at him with that love struck look plastered all over his face.

 _God!_ Derek straightened up, lips twitching slightly in response. “…Happy Birthday,” he added quickly, shaking his head, coming out of his daze.

“Hey…Thanks,” Stiles huffed out, low and heavy, like he was having a tough time breathing. He walked right into Derek’s space and Derek spread his arms for a hug.

And…Stiles leaned forward to press his lips to Derek’s.

Derek shuddered on the sudden, unexpected contact, wet and soft and sweet with all the delicious, mingled flavors of - chocolate, vanilla, whipped cream, cherries - a cake, a birthday cake.

Derek’s breath hitched as Stiles’ lips moved against his bottom lip, nipping at it gently, asking for entrance, demanding it. And Derek felt the exact moment when his brain just switched off.

He hummed in delight, parting his lips in an instinctive response.

Derek closed his eyes as Stiles’ claws lightly scraped at the back of his neck. Stiles was wolfed out, and Derek was so close himself.

Stiles kissed him, at first, tender and slow, then desperate and hungry. He blindly clutched at Derek’s clothes, in an attempt to press them closer together, if that was even possible.

Derek responded like it was his last kiss, devouring every inch of Stiles’ mouth, moving his tongue against Stiles’ in perfect sync, tracing his fangs with the tip.

They broke apart a little to catch their breath, still pressing their foreheads together, panting, gulping in each other’s breath.

Derek felt Stiles’ hands hovering over his jawline and lifted his face up. His right thumb traced Derek’s lips which must have become red and swollen. Derek opened his eyes and found himself gazing into Stiles’ golden yellow.

Stiles was still wolfed out.

Stiles sniffed the air and curled his lips flashing his extended fangs, in some sort of wolfy grin of pleasure.

“Mine!”

Stiles hissed out, his voice hoarse and wild.

“Mate…Sss…Soulmate,” he added, lisping and possessive.

It took a whole minute for Derek to grasp the meaning.

 _Soulmate…_ the word acted like a taboo, breaking all the enchantments that lingered around them.

Derek jerked back, as if the touch burned him like fire.

All the unpleasant memories of the past six months came flooding back. Jenifer had claimed something so similar.

Derek’s wounds were still fresh. It was not even a month since she’d rejected him after taking advantage of his vulnerable state and his family’s status. It had shattered his heart, his trust, his self-esteem. His fucking life.

Derek knew this was different, Stiles was different. Stiles was eighteen now and even if Derek couldn’t sense it himself, he had heard stories about how you could sense your soulmate the moment you came of age.

But Victor?

Derek had abandoned his own mother when she had left them for her soulmate. And if Derek accepted Stiles now, he would be doing the same thing his mother had done to his father.

It had killed his father.

Derek cringed away from Stiles’ hold, wolfing out as he burst out of the house, without saying a word.

“Derek!” Stiles yelled after him. But Derek didn’t stop.

******

 

Derek ran till his heart burned, till his legs completely gave out. He hadn’t even registered running through the residential area, across the main road and sprinting into the forest. His heart pounded crazily in his ears, blocking out all other sounds.

It was past midnight but Derek didn’t have any difficulties finding the path, it was just that he didn’t have any direction in mind. He darted through the woods disoriented.

He slumped down on his knees in a forest clearing. His head hung from his neck as if it couldn’t take the weight and his shoulders drooped lifelessly. He dug his hands into the ground and curled his clawed fingers into fists clenching around the soil and leaves. He sat there alone, panting, trembling for a few moments that felt like an eternity.

Suddenly he heard footsteps close by, but before he could react, he was tackled to the ground. His head hit hard, his back scraping against the rough surface.

“What the fuck is your problem?”

Stiles snarled, sitting on Derek’s stomach with his knees either side of his torso. He pinned Derek down, pressing hard onto his shoulders.

Derek stared at his yellow eyes which stood out vividly against the dark background of the night. He was the stronger of the two. He could’ve just rolled their bodies and easily flipped their positions, but Derek didn’t move, feeling tired, defeated.

“Answer me Derek!” Stiles shook his shoulders, frustrated and desperate.

Derek didn’t respond.

“Jesus Christ! You don’t believe me, God!” Stiles bounced off of Derek and started pacing beside him. “Do you have any idea how _good_ you smell to me. I tried to fucking scent mark you even before I knew you were my soulmate….twice! Remember that?”

‘I believe you’, Derek wanted to say. “What about Victor?” was what he blurted out.

“What Victor?”

Derek shot up and jerked Stiles’ arm interrupting his march. “Your boyfriend,” Derek reminded him, furrowing his eyebrows, watching Stiles warily.

“No. No Derek. No,” Stiles batted his hand away, instead, he clutched at Derek’s arms looking straight into his eyes.

“I didn’t accept Victor yesterday…”

The confession made Derek’s heart skip a beat, but Stiles’ was steady and he looked deadly serious.

“Victor apologized to me. He has realized his mistake and he totally understands that we can’t be together anymore. But…but he wanted to end it on a good note. He wanted to attend my birthday, as a friend…and I said yes. That’s it!” Stiles’ face crumpled with the pain, as if the misunderstanding was physically hurting him.

Derek searched Stiles’ eyes, to make sure he hadn’t heard him wrong.

“Yes Derek, please trust me,” Stiles voice cracked and Derek felt his heart melt inside his chest.

 

“Mr. Hale…”

Derek sprang into a crouch, desperately looking around to locate the owner of the voice. Both he and Stiles had been too focussed on each other to notice the approach.

“Sorry to interrupt your little, private chat. But we’ve been waiting for you quite long enough.”

Deucalion….and his demon pack, Derek’s mind supplied and as he watched them advancing slowly towards him a cold shiver ran down his spine.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am planning to post next chapter by Sunday. Last chapter :)


	19. Face off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon-typical violence. Nothing is graphical though. Just an emotional, verbal drama and claws. I’m also tagging the entire section, in case you want to skip it all and proceed. I understand :)

 

“Oh Derek, I told you I’d like to meet you again.”

If Derek hadn’t been watching Deucalion with shocked wide eyes, he might have mistaken the Alpha’s words for a warm, friendly greeting.

But Deucalion’s face had it’s typical smirk of supremacy; arrogant and dangerous. His jaw clenched tight, the muscles in his cheek twitching. His eyes flashed ruby red with a cold, wild glint and something about him felt very off to Derek. Something that made Derek’s wolf get fidgety.

Derek couldn’t smell him.

Deucalion had suppressed his scent and Derek could only wonder _why_. A chill ran down his spine, raising the tiny hairs on the back of his neck.

Derek’s gaze warily scanned their surroundings. He noticed that four other pairs of glowing red and yellow eyes followed Deucalion. They all glared at Derek, matching the expression on their Alpha’s face.

Derek couldn’t smell them either.

_Danger! Run! Danger!_ \- Derek’s wolf cried out.

“We’ve been waiting for this opportunity for two days,” Deucalion started when Derek didn’t respond. “Finally today, we managed to catch you alone…” his gaze slid away from Derek’s face and halted a few inches to his side. “Well, almost alone.”

_Stiles…_

Derek felt his heart drop to his stomach. Instinctively, his hand flew out, blindly catching a hold of Stiles’ body and heaving the boy behind his back.

_Stiles shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be involved in this chaos. He should be safe._

“Stiles,” Derek rasped. His eyes still pinned on the Demon pack, on alert, calculating every twitch of their muscles.

He heard Stiles’ heartbeat pounding hard against his back. His hands cold and sweaty on Derek’s uncovered arms as if he’d sensed the danger too. Of course, he must have sensed the danger. He was facing a pack of wolfed out Alphas who looked like they would eat them both alive.

“Go home Stiles,” Derek muttered urgently and took a step back, shoving Stiles further behind him. He wished he could just hide him somewhere, away from the vicious gazes of this crazy pack.

“What’s going on Derek?” Stiles asked. His voice wavering with concern.

“Nothing,” Derek cut him off. He didn’t miss the way Kali chuckled at that. Derek ignored her. “Just go,” he added to Stiles, sharp, insisting.

“No!” Came Stiles’ firm retort. What was Derek even expecting from _Stiles?_

“I’ll handle this, Stiles.”

“I am _not_ leaving you.” Stiles pressed closer, digging his fingers into Derek’s shoulders to make his point clear.

“This is cute,” Kali interrupted them. A smug smile lingered at the corners of her mouth. She strolled forward and stood just two steps in front of Derek, glaring at them.

“I don’t think your friend has an option Derek. It’s his bad luck that he’s here with you. He can’t leave,” she declared. Her eyes flashed glowing red, challenging them to try and disregard her command.

“What do you want?” Derek hissed. He felt Stiles shuffle behind him, his heartbeat spiked as the Alphas stepped closer.

“We’ve already told you that,” Ennis butted into the conversation, snarling into Derek’s face. “We want you to stop building that fucking training institute.” He cracked his neck and twitched his shoulder muscles to add to the impact.

Of course, Derek remembered their last meeting. They had cornered him in a parking lot and threatened him to stop all proceedings regarding Nemeton. Derek couldn’t help but wonder why a pack of Alphas was going to such desperate lengths to destroy his organization, which still only existed on paper.

“Are you talking about Nemeton?”  

Stiles suddenly pushed forward, moving around from Derek’s back.

“Stiles! No,” Derek tugged at Stiles’ hand to stop his advance.

All the flashing eyes immediately focussed on Stiles, tracking his path. Derek’s heart started thudding as if it was going to burst out of his rib cage.

_Not good…Danger…Stiles…not safe…_

“Are you Stiles…Stilinski?” Deucalion eyed the boy up and down, lingering on his Omega features with interest and a grumble escaped Derek’s throat, even before he realized that he was actually challenging an Alpha.

Deucalion smirked, unbothered. But, he slipped his eyes away from Stiles, shooting Derek a careless glance.

“Ethan,” the Alpha called instead. “Is he the one who started this _equality shit_ in your school last year?”

The twin Omegas, Ethan and Aidan, came forward. Derek didn’t miss the pack slowly moving to circle around him and Stiles, taking their positions.

“Yeah, he’s the one,” Ethan confirmed, scrutinizing Stiles for a long moment.

“Oh, I see the connection now.” Deucalion’s gaze flicked between Stiles and Derek and halted on their linked hands.

Derek pushed sideways, closer to Stiles. He couldn’t smell Deucalion, but the way the Alpha’s mouth flattened from its mocking smirk to a cruel thin line, meant Derek knew it was coming.

 

_** [Tag: Skip it!]** _

 

In a heartbeat, Deucalion’s hand was up in the air, grabbing the momentum and then it dropped, flashing, slashing into Derek’s linked hand.

Derek wailed, hunching over his injured side, struggling for balance.

“Derek!” Stiles cried out.

Their hands still curled into each other’s grip, tight, inseparable, even after the ghastly strike from the Demon Alpha. And…that must have infuriated the man.

“Get the Omega out of here,” Deucalion bellowed, grinding his teeth.

“No! no…” Stiles wrestled against the twins’ grip. “Derek!” he screamed. He kicked his legs, hauling his body nearer his mate, angry, desperate…helpless.

The twins were stronger, combining forces against the trembling Omega. They dragged him away.

“St…” Derek whimpered, then leapt forward to grab onto _something_ of Stiles. Kali and Ennis moved fast, stretching towards him on either side with inhuman strength, enough force to rip him in half.

And…Deucalion’s hand rose again, slicing right into Derek’s chest…once, twice...three times.

Derek collapsed onto his knees, howling in pain. A white light flashed before his vision as the Alpha’s claws cut through his tender flesh multiple times. His ears buzzed with a ringing sound as blood started gushing from his wounds, making his head spin.

His cuts were not healing. They were Alpha’s claw marks that had been engraved onto his torso and Derek knew it was going to take a long time before they started to subside. A very long time.

Suddenly, a howl reverberated, cutting through the night; sharp, mournful, snapping Derek’s focus back. He forcefully lifted his heavy head to track the source.

It was Stiles, all wolfed out, straining his neck at the dark sky, howling for help, for his pack.

They all froze on the spot.

Derek felt the Alphas’ hands go still around his arms. Even the twins ceased their retreat suddenly and just held onto Stiles, startled and waiting.

They all waited for an answering howl.

There was none.

Derek didn’t get it.

“Do you have any idea how far you are from the city’s perimeter?” Deucalion broke the profound silence with a teasing remark.

Derek looked at Stiles.

The boy’s shoulders slumped, releasing his stretched neck muscles. He gazed back at Derek, tired and pained, as if the Alpha had slashed _his_ heart.

“Derek…” Stiles mumbled, again, breaking into hitching sobs. He struggled against twins’ hold while tears started bleeding onto his cheeks, non-stop.

“You think your tiny _meow_ is enough to reach your Alpha from this far away, huh?” Deucalion’s face twisted with mock amusement.

Derek didn’t get this, at all. Why was John not responding to Stiles, why was Scott  not already there following Stiles. They had a house full of freaking werewolves, so why was no one there thrashing the Demon pack to pieces. Wait…he knew the reason.

Derek distinctly remembered John’s voice as he’d barged out of the Stilinski house – _‘Let them sort this out…’_

_Fuck._

The pack was just allowing them some privacy to resolve their stupid misunderstanding. No one was coming looking for them. Not now, not immediately. Maybe they would start getting worried after an hour or so, when Stiles hadn’t returned and the way things were going, Derek was not sure if he would survive that long. He was not sure if he could survive the next fifteen minutes.

He clenched his eyes shut, pressing his shivering hand over his wounds, panting.

Like a bolt of lightning, the pain gnawed at his chest. He grunted, snapping his eyes open with a burning ache. His palm stained with his own blood. A sweat drop trickled from his forehead seeping into his thick eyebrow and then following the lines of his sharp jaw. He lifted his heavy eyelids and tried to hold Stiles’ gaze. The boy looked equally wrecked.

Kali tugged at his arm, making Derek’s hand slide away from the cuts. Agony shot straight into his brain with just that light movement, making him lose his focus again.

“Why…”

Derek coughed, spitting out blood. He tried to take in an aching breath, raising his eyes to Deucalion’s. “It’s just an institution…for kids. Why is it bothering you…so much?”

Deucalion laughed, thunderous and menacing, dropping his head back.

“Ennis, do you hear him…Kali? Do you?” He crouched down at Derek’s eye level, his pupils widened as if the situation intrigued him. His lips curled up into a creepy smile, flashing his pointed fangs.

“The Hale pup doesn’t know.”

Derek scowled at him.

“You think you can make some bullshit press announcement about no discrimination and equality and things would end there?” Deucalion hissed, tilting his head to side.

“You’re a Hale, after all. Everyone’s thinking it’s the start of fucking revolution. Do you think you low ranked Betas could form a stupid army of a few rebels and snatch our status?”

The information shocked Derek. He’d lost touch with the outside world while he’d focused solely on Stiles for the last couple of days and he had no idea what Deucalion was talking about.

_Revolution? An army of rebels?_

“We all worshiped Abraham Hale. Of course we did. But after him, the Hales didn’t reach the bar, didn’t match up. You think you can just flash your family name and change the world?”

Derek growled at the insolent statement about his family and Deucalion stepped forward, baring his fangs.

“Look at you…you’re howling for your Alpha to come and save your little ass. You’re just a fucking damaged Beta who can’t even protect a friend. You are weak. You can’t protect _yourself_. You. Are. Nothing!”

Deucalion bellowed, huffing out a fuming breath into Derek’s face. His nostrils flared with seething anger and disgust.

Derek clenched his jaw. He didn’t drop his eyes from the livid Alpha’s.

_You. Are. Nothing_ – Derek had heard that before. So many times that he didn’t even blink at its mention.

“So you thought you’d kill me and everything would stop?” he asked in a flat tone.

Derek was already dizzy with the continuous loss of blood, but he wouldn’t back off now. Not when his so-far-useless life was inspiring so many others. He was ready to die, if things came down to it.

Deucalion smirked. “Or we can just _tweak_ your memories a little.”

Derek’s heart skipped a beat. He searched Deucalion face, with wide eyes, feeling numb.

“I know, you must have heard about how Alpha’s claws can suck your memories out.”

“No….No…Don’t touch him,” Stiles screeched out a panicked cry.

Derek’s eyes flicked to Stiles for a moment, moving back to Deucalion’s face, checking if this was some kind of a cruel joke. Hoping.

Deucalion’s grin widened at getting the expected response out of Derek.

He’d just started to realize what Deucalion’s actual plan was. The Alpha could manipulate his memories and leave him to wander off somewhere in a half dead condition. Maybe, that would buy them enough time to stop this revolution, even before it started. They had masked their scents and come prepared.

Derek realized, this situation would not end in his death. Death was easy. It would end in a bizarre, disoriented life, which would be a lesson to all other protesters, who were trying to change society’s prejudiced rules.

A life without Stiles…

Derek’s stomach rolled as if he was going to be sick.

He watched as Deucalion folded his shirt’s sleeve up, getting ready. He felt the grip tightening around his arms, as Kali and Ennis adjusted their feet to prepare for the impact.

This was it.

Derek swallowed a thick lump in his throat and searched for Stiles.

He wanted to spend every single moment of his _sane_ life watching his mate, hoping that he could just imprint Stiles’ image onto his brain so hard that no fucking Alpha-claws could wipe it off. Ever.

He couldn’t feel the ache of his wounds. Maybe, he had lost so much blood he’d crossed the limit. He watched Stiles tussle with the twins struggling to escape, shouting Derek’s name continuously.

Then, as if as a last resort, Stiles kneed one of the Omegas in the groin, hard.

The Omega yelped in pain losing his grip. One moment of distraction was all it took for the other to get a solid punch, cracking his nose.

“Run!” Derek screamed at Stiles, gathering every ounce of strength left inside his limp body. Stiles was fast. He could probably outrun the pack.

And…Stiles ran…towards Derek…

The next moment, his mate was kneeling down right in his space, throwing his arms around his neck, clutching, shivering and sobbing out a wet, aching breath.

Derek couldn’t even reach out to soothe him.

Desperate, he sucked in thick gulp of Stiles’ scent, a scent which was choked with fear and distress. Maybe, his _last_ scent of Stiles. He tried to bury his face into the Stiles’ neck aching for contact.

The Alphas just stood there clutching Derek, watching, laughing, enjoying every single moment of their agony.

“I guess, I should start with the Omega then.”

The words cut like another slash of claws.

“No…” Derek huffed out, frozen in terror.

When the words finally made sense to his dizzy mind, he twisted vigorously to get free, to grasp at Stiles.

Deucalion grabbed Stiles’ hair, snatching him away from Derek. The boy screeched at the loss of contact. He tried to jerk from Deucalion’s clasp, to dive towards Derek, writhing like a fish out of water.

“Leave. Him. Alone.” Derek roared, suddenly feeling a surge of fury burst from his brain. Someone hit him on the back to stop him from leaping forward. But he was too numb to feel any pain.

Deucalion ignored him. He dragged Stiles up, his legs skidding against the rough ground, flailing and helpless.

“You little…” Deucalion tried to make him stand on his feet. Ethan and Aidan ran to his aid.

Stiles swung his hands everywhere, clawing their skin, furious and disoriented.

Deucalion struggled for his hold. The next moment, he slapped Stiles right across his face. Something cracked…

 

_** [Tag: No, I'd like to read it]** _

 

And Derek lost it.

He started shaking with uncontrolled rage.

He clenched his eyes shut as his veins filled with a sudden rush of seething blood. His muscles stretched out. His bones snapped, rupturing his skin. He felt like every tiny part of his insides had torn into a million pieces, excruciating, but knitted back together slowly, reassembling.

His body temperature shot up. He felt heavy, as if he’d suddenly grown extra chunks of body mass. His heart banged against his ribcage at a crazy pace. He felt every single bodily organ swelling, breaking and weaving into the surrounding tissue. His legs trembled under the weight. He dropped onto all fours, struggling to keep his balance, sucking in heavy breaths.

His fangs dug into the soft tissues of his mouth, elongating. His jaw twisted at a peculiar angle making him gurgle out a weird sound.

His eyes shot open.

His vision was different, discolored, but sharp and clear. There was a massive paw right in front of his eyes.

A massive, black, hairy paw with curved, razor-sharp claws. A paw the size of a man’s face…

His paw.

“Fuck!”

“This is im…impossible…”

“Holy shit!”

He snapped his head up at the voices around him. No one was holding him down now. No one was capable of holding him down now.

His vision zeroed in on the hand clenching Stiles’ arm.

_Mate…Mate…Mate…._

He… _the wolf_ , arched his back, stretching his neck towards the sky and he howled, piercing and angry.

A howl that reverberated for miles around, cutting through every barrier, passing the city limits. A howl that was enough to make your hair stand up on end with a chill, enough to cut sharply through your eardrums. A howl that shook the ground beneath your feet.

The wolf lunged at the hand that was still clutching his mate. He ripped a big chunk out with his sharp fangs and spat it out onto the dirt below.

Deucalion dropped down, wailing and petrified. He pushed backwards, scooting away from the gigantic animal in front of him, trying desperately to escape.

The wolf stomped towards him. Thick layers of his shiny back fur ruffled with the passing wind. He dug his claws into the man’s shirt, heaving him closer.

_Danger…Kill…Kill…Kill_

The wolf planted his huge paw on Deucalion’s chest. The paw covered half of his torso, pinning the man down to the ground. He glared into the Alpha’s red eyes, furious, challenging and bellowed out a deafening roar right into his face.

Deucalion shuddered under his grasp, shivering with terror.

The next moment, the Alpha’s eyes faded back to their human form. He lowered his gaze in submission, surrendering to the ultimate miracle of nature.

“Please forgive me…I…I was wrong. I won’t do it again. I submit…please,” Deucalion begged for his life.

The wolf was not calming down. He was too _animal_ to react to the man’s pleas. He snapped his teeth at him and let out a loud rumble, surging forward.

“Derek!”

The voice stopped the wolf’s advance suddenly. A soft, soothing voice that tugged right at his heart.

_Mate…Mate…Mate….Stiles._

The wolf released the Alpha, who scrambled up to his feet, ready to flee with his shitty pack.

The wolf watched as the pack vanished into the dark woods, still quivering with fright.

“Derek?”

Stiles called again, checking.

The wolf turned his head to the source of the familiar voice. His mate’s voice.

“Oh my G-”

Stiles barged forward, leaping up at the wolf’s neck. He dug his long fingers into the wolf’s coat, wrapping himself around him, his feet barely touching the ground, flailing for balance.

The wolf crouched down.

“Derek…Tell me you’re okay. You’re not hurt. You –” Stiles choked against his hitching sobs. He was now standing on his feet, but barely hanging there, completely leaning into the wolf’s body.

The wolf calmed down as the thick, sweet scent of his mate tickled his nostrils, acting like an instant anchor. The wolf yapped with delight.

“Tell me…talk to me…change back. Can you? Please…please,” Stiles begged, tears seeping into the soft, black fur as he buried his face into it.

The wolf rumbled, unsure. Not willing to transform while his mate clung to him, so close.

“Please talk to me…” Stiles tightened his grip, pushing closer.

The wolf nuzzled at Stiles’ shoulder, shoving him away, to a safer distance. The boy stumbled back, whining at the loss of contact. But he understood and didn’t try to jump him again.

_Change…change…change._

The wolf closed his eyes trying to concentrate. His ears twitched to grasp the soothing sound and focused on the steady thudding of Stiles’ heart. That helped.

He felt his muscles cramp, a piercing ache erupting from every inch of his body, which gradually subsided. His tissues and bones rearranged, but this time, relieving the massive pressure that had been on them. His body felt light after losing the heaviness of his wolf form. He felt his head spin, almost knocking him to the ground.

Two hands immediately grabbed Derek, supporting his balance.

“Stiles…” he huffed out, feeling completely drained.

“You’re okay…you are okay,” Stiles muttered, his cheeks red and wet with tears. He cupped Derek’s face in his palms, searching him, as if seeing him for the first time.

_Yes, Stiles was okay. They were okay._ Derek let out a shuddering breath. He felt relaxed and wonderful and well…naked.

For the first time, he noticed shredded pieces of his favorite shirt and jeans hanging helplessly all over his body and he tried to shuffle.

Stiles held him tight.

“You scared the shit out of me, y’know that?” Stiles said, tired and agitated.

“Did I scare you?” Derek blurted out, uncertain and hurt. “…because I turned into a wolf?” he asked, ducking his head. He couldn’t handle the fact that Stiles was scared of him, because he was a...

“Yeah, yeah that too,” Stiles eyelids blinked rapidly. “I can’t believe my soulmate is a six foot tall, enormous black wolf…a beautiful, full wolf. Of course, you scared me,” he said, teasing.

Derek narrowed his eyes at him.

“But you scared me more, when you didn’t believe that we’re mates and…and ran away after I kissed you.” Stiles’ look suddenly flattened from light and teasing to dead serious. For a tiny moment, his eyes flicked to Derek’s mouth, then back to his eyes instead.

“I thought you were rejecting me. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I felt like I was going to die. Like…like I was going to miss the bus, again…for the fourth time.”

And that gained a loud laugh from Derek.

Of course, he knew how Stiles must have felt. And he was so ready to correct his mistake.

He grabbed Stiles by the back of his neck and pressed his lips to his open, still chattering lips, muffling his remaining words with a hot kiss.

Stiles tugged at Derek’s bare shoulders and responded with hungry, slick movements, moaning into his mouth.

Then suddenly, he bit into Derek’s bottom lip, as if punishing him for making him wait for so long. Quickly, he flicked his tongue over the swollen lip, offering comfort.

“I sense you,” Derek whispered against Stiles’ mouth, soft and fond.

Stiles gazed at him, his eyes still half-lidded and dizzy.

“My wolf can sense that you are my mate,” Derek explained, pressing quick, loving pecks all over Stiles’ face.

“Wha-” Stiles mumbled between Derek’s wet kisses, surprised.

Derek could make out the exact moment when Stiles grasped the meaning of his statement. His Omega suddenly grabbed his bare ass, with a wholly new-found passion.

Well, you could not blame the boy when his mate was making such pleasingly beautiful sounds right into his ears. After all, he’d just won the jackpot on his eighteenth birthday.

And the party had only just begun.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been three and a half months and I can’t believe I finished this monster.  
> Thank you [Jonjo](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Jonjo) and [erialeduab](http://archiveofourown.org/users/erialeduab) for the beta work <3

**Author's Note:**

> * Comments/Kudos are gold!! They keeps motivating me to write more  
> 


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